Marquis Hooper, a former IT Manager in the Navy, was sentenced to five years in prison for unlawfully accessing and tampering with a computer database that contained highly sensitive and confidential information.
Over 9,000 individuals’ identities were stolen by Hooper, who then sold them to the Dark Web for $160,000 worth of Bitcoin.
According to the Department of Justice press release, access to the database is limited to organizations with a legitimate business or legal need to access the PII.
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The defendant engaged in fraudulent activity by creating a fraudulent online account with the Company database. In addition, the defendant added his accomplice and wife, Natasha Chalk, to the account.
Subsequently, they illegally obtained personal identifiable information (PII) of over 9,000 individuals and sold it to other parties on the dark web for a substantial sum of $160,000 worth of bitcoin.
Hooper and Chalk’s sale of the PII proved to be disastrous, as the recipients of the information went on to commit a string of heinous crimes. One of the offenders utilized the PII to fabricate a counterfeit driver’s license, which was then used in an attempt to withdraw funds from the victim’s bank account.
Hooper, Chalk, and an unindicted co-conspirator were suspected of attempting to create a new account in order to regain access to the database, leading the company to close the original account.
A sum of $2500 was paid by Hooper every month to a co-conspirator to unlock a database, after which several documents were transmitted to an unindicted conspirator who falsely impersonated the victim as a Naval supply officer in an identity theft scheme.
Among the papers employed in an identity theft plan was a forged letter claiming to be from a commanding officer in the Navy.
The Naval Criminal Investigative Service, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and Homeland Security Investigations conducted the investigation leading to these charges. Joseph Barton, an assistant U.S. attorney, is responsible for the prosecution.
Scheduled for sentencing on November 20, 2023, is Chalk, who could be subject to a maximum statutory penalty of 20 years in prison and a fine of $250,000.
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