Illegal Access of Linkin Park Singer’s Phone Records

A 'Linkin Park Group' fan was arrested for allegedly hacking into e-mail and phone records of famous singer, Chester Bennington and his wife Talinda Bennington. Court has found Devon Townsend, 27 of Albuquerque, New Mexico captured personal phone numbers in Bennington's collection and photographs he had clicked with his phone's camera.

Townsend, employed at 'Sandia National Laboratories' used her office computer to seize copies of Bennington's 'Verizon Wireless Bills' and 'call logs' and even scanned pictures he had taken with his camera phone. The 'Department of Defense Inspector General' filed an affidavit in which Townsend is charged to have threatened Bennington's wife Talinda over the phone.

Investigators found that Townsend made the phone calls from Sanidia's 'technology and manufacturing' division. Following this, she was taken into custody on November 25, 2006. Federal charges booked on Townsend accused her of hacking a cell phone company's Website through a laboratory computer.

In October 2006, Talinda Bennington had reported federal authorities that someone had illegally tapped their 'Verizon Wireless' account over the Internet. As per the affidavit, she was worried that a 'stalker' had taken hold of her personal information.

The affidavit further says that Townsend intercepted Bennington's family e-mail accounts to gather 'Linkin Park' posters, 'band memorabilia' with autographs, photos of Townsend with Chester Bennington, 'bootlegged Linkin Park' music and copies of messages.

Townsend's attorney, Ray Twohig said that after the investigations of his client's computer were over, it would be possible to determine the exact violations. He said that in the current age, fans were more skilled than in the past.

Officials say they recovered from Townsend a copy of Bennington's 34-page Verizon bill containing the story of his phone usage, including calls to Linkin Park band-mates and other celebrity friends. She had also downloaded 78 'digital photos' Bennington e-mailed to his friends. Some of them were that of the rocker's children when the family was on a trip to Japan that was for private use only.

A Sandia representative, Michael Padilla, said that the company barred Townsend from accessing her computer following the incident and she has been fired. She had, however, not captured classified data.

Related article: Illegal Software Downloads have High Risks of malware Infection

» SPAMfighter News - 12/1/2006