- Jan 24, 2011
- 9,378
A Tennessee man was sentenced Tuesday in Chicago's federal court to nearly four years in prison for his role in a notorious group of cybercriminals responsible for a destructive hacking spree on dozens of businesses, nonprofits and government entities.
Dressed in an orange jail jumpsuit and wearing thick, black-rimmed eyeglasses, Timothy Justen French, 22, nodded slightly as U.S. District Judge Gary Feinerman imposed the 45-month sentence. Prosecutors had sought a seven-year term.
Feinerman said he took into account the emotional and physical abuse endured by French while growing up in rural Tennessee as well as his struggles with marijuana and alcohol.
But in rejecting calls from French's lawyer for as little as three years behind bars, the judge noted that French had failed to turn his life around after the FBI raided his home in 2011 and seized his computer as part of a separate investigation into computer hacking.
French, who was 17 at the time, was not charged in that case, but he was arrested less than three years later for a large-scale campaign of hacking connected to the hacking group NullCrew.
"That was a shot across the bow," Feinerman said of the FBI raid. "But it was a wake-up call that he did not heed."
Before he was sentenced, French read a statement to the court in which he apologized for his crimes and said he was intent on turning his life around after he's released. His voice choked with emotion, he spoke about the shame he'd brought upon his family, particularly his grandmother who had taken him in when he needed help.
"I'm not a bad person. I've made bad choices, but who hasn't?" said French, speaking at times so rapidly that the judge had to ask him to slow down so the court reporter could keep up. "All of this stuff has been killing me. It's driving me nuts."
French pleaded guilty earlier this year to one count of intentionally damaging protected computers belonging to a large Canadian telecommunications company -- identified in several news reports as Bell Canada.
Read more: Hacker given almost 4 years in prison for destructive cyberattack
Dressed in an orange jail jumpsuit and wearing thick, black-rimmed eyeglasses, Timothy Justen French, 22, nodded slightly as U.S. District Judge Gary Feinerman imposed the 45-month sentence. Prosecutors had sought a seven-year term.
Feinerman said he took into account the emotional and physical abuse endured by French while growing up in rural Tennessee as well as his struggles with marijuana and alcohol.
But in rejecting calls from French's lawyer for as little as three years behind bars, the judge noted that French had failed to turn his life around after the FBI raided his home in 2011 and seized his computer as part of a separate investigation into computer hacking.
French, who was 17 at the time, was not charged in that case, but he was arrested less than three years later for a large-scale campaign of hacking connected to the hacking group NullCrew.
"That was a shot across the bow," Feinerman said of the FBI raid. "But it was a wake-up call that he did not heed."
Before he was sentenced, French read a statement to the court in which he apologized for his crimes and said he was intent on turning his life around after he's released. His voice choked with emotion, he spoke about the shame he'd brought upon his family, particularly his grandmother who had taken him in when he needed help.
"I'm not a bad person. I've made bad choices, but who hasn't?" said French, speaking at times so rapidly that the judge had to ask him to slow down so the court reporter could keep up. "All of this stuff has been killing me. It's driving me nuts."
French pleaded guilty earlier this year to one count of intentionally damaging protected computers belonging to a large Canadian telecommunications company -- identified in several news reports as Bell Canada.
Read more: Hacker given almost 4 years in prison for destructive cyberattack
