A man who suspected his then-girlfriend of cheating has been charged with a felony computer crime for allegedly accessing her computer without permission to confirm his suspicions, according to court documents.
Timothy Ryan Johnson, 27, was indicted by a Juneau grand jury late last month after the woman discovered a “keylogger” on her computer that allegedly allowed Johnson to view private emails and pictures, including nude photographs. Keyloggers silently monitor and record key strokes pressed on a keyboard, unbeknownst to the computer user.
The woman, who is not named in court documents, contacted police in October complaining that her ex-boyfriend, Johnson, placed a keylogger on her computer, according to an affidavit. She told police she kept changing her passwords, but Johnson kept confronting her with personal information she never shared with him, the affidavit states.
During a police interview last month, Johnson admitted to having used the keylogger to access “emails and pictures she had sent to other guys,” because he thought she was cheating, the affidavit alleges.
Johnson was indicted on the single felony “criminal use of a computer” charge, which prohibits using keyloggers or other devices to intercept or record another person’s keystrokes or computer entries. That’s a class ‘C’ felony punishable by up to five years in prison.
Johnson was additionally charged by the district attorney’s office with one misdemeanor count of “indecent viewing or photography” for viewing nude photographs without consent of the person shown in the photographs.
Johnson is scheduled to appear for an arraignment in Juneau Superior Court before Judge Philip Pallenberg next week. He is represented by defense attorney Julie Willoughby, who declined to comment on the case.
Johnson said in a phone interview Wednesday afternoon that he did not realize it was a felony offense, and that he hopes the felony charge is reduced or dismissed.
“I didn’t realize that it was illegal when I did it, and I just wanted to catch her cheating on me, which I did,” he said.
• Contact reporter Emily Russo Miller at 523-2263 or at emily.miller@juneauempire.com.
Comments (39)
Add commentNot justified
"I just wanted to catch her cheating on me, which I did."
Adding that "which I did" on the end probably won't win him any sympathy. Regardless of what his girlfriend was doing, he had no justification for the spying. Based on that statement, it appears he still thinks he did.
Regarding the emailing of nude photos, once one hits the 'send' button, they're out in the wild, ending up who knows where.
Honesty
While I do agree that his actions were quesionable, I doubt many of us could contest that we wouldn't consider doing the same thing. When pressed, who hasn't followed a girl/boy friend or spouse to confirm suspicions, pressed redial, or *69 on a phone, or tried to listen in on a phone conversation?
The question you have to ask, is what kind of girl is this sending out nude photos of herself or accepting nude pics from others.
$K@NK
Hire a private detective..,.
I think this guy is learning about life the hard way!
Letters to Santa?
He knows where all the naughty girls live.
Shouldn't be a FELONY
Shouldn't be a felony. Having a cheating girlfriend and getting charged with a felony for looking for confirmation... There doesn't appear to be malicious intent... the guy wanted the truth from the girlfriend. In my opinion she should have given it. Felony charges can ruin ones life, or have a serious impact at the least.
Ex-boyfriend
Did anyone pick up on the fact that he was her "ex-boyfriend" when she called the police? Therefore she was not cheating on him. She kicked him to the curb already. He deserves to be in jail! This is stalking behavior he is displaying.
Turn-around
If things were reversed and the woman had planted the spyware on her boyfriend's computer, it's highly unlikely there would be any charges being brought forward by the DA's office.
I agree
No felony, unless there were circumstances that wasnt disclosed. It is interesting though, would this carry over to cell phones?
we all got secrets
I got stuff I keep from my wife (not THAT kind of stuff) because it might keep her up at night as well. But dishonesty is different. For a "girlfriend"? Find other girlfriend, idiot.
Bad moves, bro
I've known this chick through their entire relationship, they weren't going out when he was breaking into her stuff. He shouldn't have been trying to control someone that he wasn't even in a relationship with.
Changes
If they were in fact no longer a couple, that does change things a bit. While sending and receiving nude photos is a questionable practice, he would have no right or idea of right to do what he did. Poor form and sad. Get a pair of binoculars like regular stalkers.
slaves cant spy on your girlfreinds!
only when the state does this is it acceptable!! (WRONG)! its all illegal and nobody wants to talk about that! you are being surveiled all day. your stop lights your ferry terminal, your phones. dont do as i do do as i say!
Yeah
@GJSmith - is right women get off easy in the judicial system it's simply a statistical fact. If the tables were turned you wouldn't see much of anything going on. That said the guy was a dork. He should have just moved on.
Missed comment
I can't believe that not one poster has made the comment that only the government has the power to snoop into our personal lives! Silly that this guy did not know that.
Digital spying
How many folks criticizing computer/data intrusion by the government (and rightfully so, in my opinion) make any effort to prevent it? (Actually, it's not so much the government as it is corporations and businesses, who then sell to the government or are forced to turn over the resulting data.) The point itself is valid, but the vast majority of people continue to use systems and applications that are not only not secure, but are obviously and deliberately compromised.
Installing a keylogger on a computer not owned by you (and in this instance, apparently not even in the same house as you) should indeed be a felony; Sony should have been bankrupted when it installed rootkits on every CD they sold. Orionsbow - yes, this sort of thing is also applicable to phones or any personal data device EXCEPT for the manufacturers of the operating system and various applications - they are only "leasing" you the services of running the software and almost universally retain to the right to snoop into your device and do whatever they want.
Wakeupnow
The traffic signals in Juneau do NOT have cameras that record you! DOT has stated this multiple times.
Longtime
So the cameras are there for???
They're not cameras ...
they are sensors first responders use to control traffic lights. But, I guess, if you're a conspiracy theorist, maybe not.
am I the only one....................
who wonders if he was an "ex" why he had access to her computer? Was she stringing the dude along and letting him into her love nest? Did he break into her home and rig the computer? Was the program on the laptop when they were together? Ex means ex in my book. It means NO ACCESS to anything he used to play with, including computers !!!!
How did that all play out? Just wondering........
Personally if you have to
Personally if you have to snoop you already have the answer you were looking for, wrong person to be with. Just as full disclosure, I read a few texts that I never asked to, I felt like such a sleeze I realized quickly my actions didn't negate hers but they sure justified hers in the argument.
@ Concerned Citizen
Because this is a friend, I am gonna say it since she can't say it for herself. If this girl wasn't an 'ex', why was he banging some other chick he works with while he was spying on his so-called 'girlfriend'? None of you guys know the story and probably never will.
yeah but ,,,
Long Time Resident; You believe what the government tells you ? !!!!! How naive. I worked for the govt. 33 years and the thing I learned most in that time is that for everything they admit or say in public is covering or misdirecting to hide three things they dont want you to know about.
Concerned Citizen; You can install key loggers remotely on a computer via e-mail or even photos. I send you an e-mail with a photo attached and while your downloading the attachment the key logger program is installing. An easy thing to do and readily found on the internet.
In akforsnow: Banging? What a masculine choice of words. You claim to be a friend. Well sometimes a friend is just a friend but the anger in your post plus other keys say that maybe this friend was the snake in the bed. Just wonderin ,,,,,
Kids; Keep this quote in mind when you text those nude pics to your equally underage friend or much older internet friend. When your parents catch you remember this
"Johnson was additionally charged by the district attorney’s office with one misdemeanor count of “indecent viewing or photography” for viewing nude photographs without consent of the person shown in the photographs."
They have no right to look without your permission.
If he had molested her and been a cop it would be a slap on the wrist.
Just sayin ,,,,,
@slegnawons
You sayin i'm a snake in the bed? I'm not the first guy who was attracted to her but the bottom line is he broke the law and he was sleeping with some other chick while he did this to her.
BROKE THE LAW.
@slegnawons
I have a relative that works at DOT and no I'm NOT naive!
then-girlfriend
the first sentence states: ... his then-girlfriend ... meaning they were together, not seperated.
Well, now he gets to be a
Well, now he gets to be a girlfriend...
What a bunch of crap
This is a civil matter if anything but far from justification for a felony charge. I'm sure the charges will be reduced if he doesn't have a criminal history that supports the states position that he is a threat to the community.
I can imagine this type of charge being justified if his actions resulted in a serious security threat to our country or even if he was married to this woman and was accessing her private documents to gain an unfair advantage in a custody or divorce case.
This is just a poor guy with a bad choice in woman who didn't have the sense to listen to his instincts and bolt. This seems like he knew what he doing wasn't right but absolutely had to intention to disregard a law that I'm sure he wasn't aware even existed. This is the first I've heard of this law.
So, snow...
... You admit to being Sancho?
glad to get you talking!!!
they are set up on servers! servers can be accesed any time!
by the way this is no longer a theory.
INFOWARS .COM
Keylogger
This was pretty stupid. But I like to reserve felony charges for people that have actually injured another person. He didn't post nude photos, he didn't threaten her, he didn't cost her money.