Fugitive Hacker Arrested
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- "Agent Steal," a computer hacker turned government
informant who claimed to have helped put superhacker Kevin Mitnick behind
bars, is back in custody after being on the run for several weeks.
Justin Petersen, 38, was accused of leaving a halfway house and could get
up to two years in prison. He was captured without incident December 11
in Los Angeles.
Petersen, a native of Lincoln, Nebraska, pleaded guilty in 1993 to federal
computer crimes.
He admitted stealing data from a credit information firm, hacking into a
financial services business to pay himself $150,000 and helping rig a
radio call-in contest by seizing control of telephone lines.
He got nearly 3 1/2 years in prison and three years of supervised release.
But his sentence was delayed while he helped the government in an
"undercover capacity," as one court document put it.
Petersen claimed the FBI paid his rent and flew him to computer
conferences to spy on other hackers. He also said he helped show that
Mitnick, the only hacker to make the FBI's Ten Most Wanted list, was
committing offenses while on probation for computer crimes.
Mitnick was arrested in 1995, accused of stealing 20,000 credit card
numbers. He faces trial in Los Angeles on April 20.
Petersen was completing his sentence in a halfway house in the Los Angeles
area when he went on the run.
His lawyer, Nathan Hochman, said his client "hasn't admitted or denied the
allegations yet."
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