A New York man pleaded guilty to using college email accounts to intrude into the social media accounts of female students and steal nude photos of them.
Nicholas Faber, 25, of Rochester, pleaded guilty on Monday to one count of computer intrusion causing damage and one count of aggravated identity theft. He joins 25-year-old co-conspirator Michael Fish, who already pleaded guilty to computer hacking, aggravated identity theft, and child pornography offenses.
The Justice Department said on Tuesday that Faber admitted that from 2017 to 2019, he and Fish worked to “access the school email accounts of dozens of female college students and then used information from those school email accounts to gain access to the victims’ social media accounts.” From there, Faber allegedly stole and traded private nude photographs and movies stored in the accounts.
Uncovering these developments demanded significant resources, the Justice Department said in a news release.
“Also, as a result of Faber’s crimes, the university had to allocate money and staff to identifying compromised accounts, reviewing computer and server access logs, resetting passwords, and notifying students and parents,” the release read.
Faber, who graduated from the State University of New York at Plattsburgh in 2017, agreed to pay $35,430 in restitution to the university. He is set to be sentenced on June 9.
Fish, who pleaded guilty last May, faced accusations of fraud last month when he was charged with violating the terms of release while awaiting sentencing. He is accused of forging a character reference from a top aide for Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik. The letter was a mixture of portions from a genuine 2016 reference letter written by the aide from before Fish’s arrest with additions related to the case against him, according to court documents.
Some outlets have identified Jonathan Carman as the Stefanik aide whom Fish impersonated. The Washington Examiner reached out to Carman for confirmation but did not immediately receive a reply.
The FBI also said that Fish submitted other altered character letters to the court, including one from a Catholic priest. Fish was charged with obstructing justice and committing an offense while on release for his alleged letter forgery.
Fish is scheduled to be sentenced on the latest charges on March 19.
