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Former AHS student leader busted on hacking chargesJul 04, 2013 (Andover Townsman - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- An Andover High School graduate was charged recently with 18 felonies in Indiana following allegations that he hacked into his professors' computers during his undergraduate years at Purdue University and changed multiple grades. Roy Chaoran Sun, 25, of 1 Robinswood Way, Andover, joined two classmates in a complex and advanced hacking scheme in which they replaced professors' keyboards with ones that logged their keystrokes. They then used the information from the key-loggers to hack into those professors' accounts and change their grades, prosecutors allege. According to probable cause affidavits, Sun, an electrical engineering student, changed eight Fs and one D to all As. He is accused of changing the first grade, the D, in December 2008 and continuing to change grades through May 2010, when he graduated from Purdue, according to an affidavit. Following his arrest last month in Brookline on a warrant out of Purdue, Sun reported to Indiana to face the charges. He was released on $125,000 cash bail and $125,000 surety, and, according to court documents, was allowed to return to Andover to live with his parents until his next court date at the end of August. He was ordered to surrender his passport to Purdue University police and told not to leave the country. Last week, a woman answering the door at 1 Robinswood Way in Andover declined to comment, saying she was busy. In court documents filed with Tippecanoe County, Sun also gave an address of 14 Longwood Drive, Apt. 8, Andover. Nobody answered the door at that address. More recently, Sun was a graduate student at Boston University. According to a BU spokesman, he attended the school for the spring semester and is no longer a student there. Colin Riley, executive director of public relations at BU, said federal confidentiality rules prevented him from releasing any further information. Purdue police Chief John Cox said police at Purdue and BU are sharing information about the investigation. According to one local media report, Sun was arrested on May 29 at 1 John St., Brookline, by Brookline police and charged on a warrant out of Purdue for computer hacking violations. He gave police at that time the Robinswood Way address. Sun was joined in the scheme by Mitsutoshi Shirasaki, 24, and Sujay Sharma, 24, both of West Lafayette, Ind., police allege. All three are charged with multiple counts of conspiracy to commit computer tampering, conspiracy to commit burglary and conspiracy to commit computer trespass. Sun also faces a misdemeanor charge of computer trespass. The charges originally were filed in April, but were unsealed and made public only recently, according to the Journal & Courier of Lafayette, Ind. Sun's attorney, Jack O'Bryan, could not be reached for comment. Sun had been in trouble before. In 2009, he was facing charges of terroristic mischief after he left a box at the parking services building on the Purdue campus that some believed might have contained a weapon of mass destruction. Turns out it was a wheel lock, or a Denver boot, along with a ticket and $20 in cash that he owed in parking fines. Charges were never filed after Purdue students rallied to Sun's cause. In 2007, according to court documents, Sun pleaded guilty to criminal recklessness. The court papers do not specify what he did, but he was ordered to stay out of bars, pay a fine, submit to random drug and alcohol screening and keep away from a victim, who was named in the court documents. He was also placed on probation for one year. It appears that while he was at Andover High School, in 2005, he was a member of the student government. Material from the Associated Press was used in this report. ___ (c)2013 Andover Townsman (Andover, Mass.) Visit the Andover Townsman (Andover, Mass.) at www.andovertownsman.com Distributed by MCT Information Services |