Posted on 02/13/2013 2:15:18 PM PST by Arthurio
HANOVER, VA –The FBI raided a Hanover County home in search of child porn, only to discover they'd raided the wrong house.
Federal investigators targeted the Mechanicsville home after discovering child porn was being downloaded to computers using the homeowner's internet service, according to federal court documents.
But after raiding the home in November and subsequently launching a full investigation, court documents show agents discovered the computers with the downloaded child porn didn't belong to the couple, but a neighbor.
David Edward Sleezer, of J David Lane, was arrested and charged with five counts of receiving and distributing child porn.
Agents raided Sleezer's home and confiscated a computer, several computer discs and a thumb drive, all containing images and videos of child porn, according to an indictment.
Sleezer was stealing his neighbor's unsecured Wi-Fi signal to commit the crimes, according to court documents.
Sleezer is due back in court the week of February 11.
Stay with 8News for updates.
Technically, I do not believe it is 'stealing' as much as it is 'snooping'. To steal something, you have to take it away from someone in a manner that no longer allows them to possess it. If you and your neighbor live off the public road, and he creates a driveable path past your house from the road on the way to his place, it is not stealing if you decide to use the road. Public property, not on his, thusly fair use. If your neighbor drops his running garden hose and dashed into the house to answer his phone, it is not stealing if you sneak a drink from the running hose in the meantime.
I have become inured over the years about how many people just can not be troubled to change the default passwords on the equipment they use. Modems, routers, hubs, computers -you name it, it's unsecured.
Did they burn the house down???
26 characters in mine; that oughta do it.
You gotta lock up and encrypt it to make it secure.
Perhaps we should change the letters “FBI” to “FUBAR.”
Ah, that makes sense. Thank you for the info!
BTW, I agree - I hope it was a knock first situation, followed by a professional handling of the investigation. I read a similar story on FR a while back that was a lot uglier.
Mix CaPs and dashes with NuMb3rs?.........
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