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![TMCNet: Cops probe plot to hack emails of officials [The Record, Stockton, Calif.]](http://images.tmcnet.com/siteart/invisible.gif)
Cops probe plot to hack emails of officials [The Record, Stockton, Calif.]
(Record (Stockton, CA) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Sept. 05--STOCKTON -- Local and federal authorities have launched an investigation into a pair of Stockton men suspected of conspiring to hack into city officials' emails, a Record probe has revealed.
Guy Hatch, chairman of the board for the Boys & Girls Clubs of Stockton, and Jason Roth, CEO of The Tuleburg Group marketing firm, are also suspected of seeking to plant compromising information into at least one official's email account, sources said.
Mayor Anthony Silva -- who said he is stepping down as CEO of the Boys & Girls Clubs but would not say exactly when -- has close ties with Hatch. He has distanced himself from the allegations, which he compared to a bad movie script.
Targets of the alleged hacking scheme were Stockton City Manager Bob Deis, Councilman Moses Zapien and Councilman Michael Tubbs. It is unclear if the alleged plot was ultimately attempted.
"If these allegations are indeed true, it's sad commentary on the people implicated," Tubbs said. "If you were trying to make Stockton better, you wouldn't have time to hack into my email account. That's ridiculous." Officer Joe Silva, a spokesman for the Stockton Police Department, confirmed the investigation but declined to give details or name those under suspicion.
Police received the allegations and continue to evaluate them, Officer Silva said.
Stockton businessman and computer technician Alonzo Brown, 43, told The Record that Hatch, 42, and Roth, 28, asked him in a July 14 meeting to carry out the hacking plot.
Brown later confided in a trusted associate, who got the ball rolling on notifying authorities. Brown talked with investigators, fearing that the alleged plot at least could ruin his reputation and fledgling business, which supports him and his family.
"At worst, (it could) have me in a small room with large men," Brown said. "Call me quirky, I kind of like coming and going as I please." Brown said the meeting happened at Roth's Stockton home. Brown knows Hatch because they both volunteered with the Stockton charity called H.O.P.E.
The sole owner and operator of Bayber Technology, Brown said Roth did most of the talking, at first asking in general about the possibility of hacking into wireless systems.
The discussion turned to hacking the three officials' emails, Brown said.
Brown said he is not politically active, but it was clear that politics motivated the proposed conspiracy.
As chairman of the Boys & Girls Club, Hatch and the board oversaw Anthony Silva. But Brown said Hatch and Roth wanted to protect the mayor from their plans.
"As they put it, he wasn't to know about it," Brown said. "They wanted to give him cover." Brown said Hatch and Roth sought "doodling" that they believe Tubbs did on his iPad. They contended he was making jokes about members of the public who come to City Council meetings to voice their support for Mayor Silva, Brown said.
Brown said he didn't know the motivation for targeting Zapien. The pair wanted access to Deis' email and suggested planting compromising messages that could be used as leverage to gain his control, Brown said.
For much of his term, Silva has been at odds with Deis and the majority of the six council members. In a prepared statement, the mayor said he respected people on both sides of the allegations, and he denied knowing anything about it.
"I don't believe anybody would be so stupid," Silva said, adding that he chooses to wait for verifiable facts to emerge before making any judgments. "Any such shenanigans would be outrageous and ridiculous." Brown said Hatch invited him to a second meeting on July 20. This time, he said, Aaron Edwards, 25, was present. Edwards serves as a Stockton Parks and Recreation commissioner; he is a Stockton Unified School Board candidate; and he's on the H.O.P.E. board with Hatch. Roth was not there.
Brown said Hatch and Edwards did not discuss hacking in this second meeting. Rather, they ranted against Terry Hull, a member of the Boys & Girls Club board, who had publicly called for Silva to step down from the club's leadership, Brown said.
They asked Brown, who provides computer support for Hull's Property Management Experts, to try to use his influence over Hull so that he would stop pressuring Silva, Brown said.
This angered Brown. Hull is his friend and largest client, said Brown, who is trying to grow his business. Brown said he told Hatch and Edwards that Silva had been outmaneuvered politically and they should accept that.
"What happens to your fight is of no interest to me," said Brown, repeating what he told them leaving the meeting. "I just don't know why I'm here." Edwards said in a phone interview with The Record that he knew nothing about an alleged hacking plot and he had not been contacted by investigators. If he had, he would cooperate completely, Edwards said.
Roth denied having the July 14 meeting at his home with Hatch and Brown. Roth said he met Brown once in April. Hatch introduced him to Brown briefly while drinking at The Ave, a Miracle Mile lounge, Roth said.
"How is this an investigation that I've never even heard of?" Roth said.
Hatch responded by email to the hacking allegation, saying "That is 100% false! If you want a public officials email, then do a freedom of information request!" Investigators became involved when Brown told Hull about the alleged conspiracy. Hull confirmed to The Record that he next informed Zapien of Brown's story, and Zapien went to police.
Detectives from the Stockton Police Department's vice unit interviewed Hull, and then the detectives interviewed Brown with Hull present at Hull's office, he said.
Within days, an FBI agent from Sacramento next interviewed Brown without Hull present. The agent suggested Brown wear a hidden microphone in future meetings with Hatch and Roth. The plan was never carried out, Brown said.
Brown had kept in weekly contact with the FBI agent until last week, he said. FBI spokeswoman Gina Swankie said she could neither confirm nor deny any ongoing investigations.
According to state law, a felony conviction of email hacking could result in a state prison sentence.
Would-be victims of the alleged email hacking plot expressed disappointment and varying degrees of surprise.
"Given my experiences since assuming this position as city manager, I would not be surprised by this latest revelation," said Deis, who will retire Nov. 1.
In three years here, the police union bought the home next to his, which Deis considered an intimidation tactic, and he recently complained of people scouring his trash seeking compromising information.
Tubbs said he wondered if someone had tampered with his gmail account, because upon logging in recently, Google asked him to change his password, raising his suspicions.
He denied doodling during council meetings. If he looks down, Tubbs said, he is collecting his thoughts or reading from the agenda on his iPad.
Zapien said he has not been approached by law enforcement.
"I'm shocked and deeply saddened," he said. "Whatever their motives were doesn't justify breaking in to someone's computer." Contact reporter Scott Smith at (209) 546-8296 or [email protected]. Visit his blog at www.recordnet.com/smithblog.
___ (c)2013 The Record (Stockton, Calif.) Visit The Record (Stockton, Calif.) at www.recordnet.com Distributed by MCT Information Services
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