Underground: Hacking, madness and obsession on the electronic frontierDreyfus, Suelette
Science
Underground: Hacking, madness and obsession on the electronic frontier
Dreyfus, Suelette
Computer crimes -- Australia; Computer hackers -- Australia -- Biography; Computer security -- Australia
The way they negotiated reminded Rosen of an old American television
game of that name. The show's host pulled some innocent soul off the
street, seated her on a garish throne, asked her questions and then
gave her prizes. The US Attorney's Office in New York wanted to seat
Par on a throne, of sorts, to ask him lots of questions. At the end of
the unfettered interrogation, they would hand out prizes. Prison
terms. Fines. Convictions. As they saw fit. No guaranteed sentences.
They would decide what leniency, if any, he would get at the end of
the game.
Par knew what they were looking for: evidence against the MOD boys. He
wasn't having a bar of that. The situation stank, so Par decided not to
fight the extradition to California. Anything had to be better than New
York, with its crazy jail inmates and arrogant federal prosecutors.
The officer from the Monterey sheriff's office picked Par up on 17
December 1991.
Par spent the next few weeks in jail in California, but this time he
wasn't in any sort of protective custody. He had to share a cell with
Mexican drug dealers and other mafia, but at least he knew his way
around these people. And unlike the some of the people at Rikers, they
weren't stark raving lunatics.
Richard Rosen took the case back, despite Par's having skipped town
the first time, which Par thought was pretty good of the lawyer. But
Par had no idea how good it would be for him until it came to his
court date.
Par called Rosen from the jail, to talk about the case. Rosen had some
big news for him.
`Plead guilty. You're going to plead guilty to everything,' he told
Par.
Par thought Rosen had lost his marbles.
`No. We can win this case if you plead guilty,' Rosen assured him.
Par sat dumbfounded at the other end of the phone.
`Trust me,' the lawyer said.
The meticulous Richard Rosen had found a devastating weapon.
On 23 December 1991, Par pleaded guilty to two charges in Monterey
County Juvenile Court. He admitted everything. The whole nine yards.
Yes, I am The Parmaster. Yes, I broke into computers. Yes, I took
thousands of credit card details from a Citibank machine. Yes, yes,
yes.
In some way, the experience was cathartic, but only because Par knew
Rosen had a brilliant ace up his sleeve.
Rosen had rushed the case to be sure it would be heard in juvenile
court, where Par would get a more lenient sentence. But just because
Rosen was in a hurry didn't mean he was sloppy. When he went through
Par's file with a fine-toothed comb he discovered the official papers
declared Par's birthday to be 15 January 1971. In fact, Par's birthday
was some days earlier, but the DA's office didn't know that.
Under California law, a juvenile court has jurisdiction over citizens
under the age of 21. You can only be tried and sentenced in a juvenile
court if you committed the crimes in question while under the age of
eighteen and you are still under the age of 21 when you plead and are
sentenced.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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