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Head Start employee charged with computer crimesALIQUIPPA, Nov 16, 2009 (Beaver County Times - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- A former Beaver County Head Start employee has been charged with breaking into the agency's computers and deleting client information. Nicolas D. Mundo, 32, of 939 Crestview Drive, Ellwood City, was charged by Aliquippa police Detective Sgt. Donald Couch and Beaver County Chief County Detective Joseph Fennych with 11 counts each of unlawful use of a computer, computer theft and computer trespass. Fennych would not say how many families were affected by the computer breach. Head Start is a federally funded program that offers educational services to low-income families. According to a criminal complaint, Mundo was an information technology supervisor with Head Start, based in Aliquippa, for nearly four months until he was fired on Oct. 9 for what was only described in the report as "a number of violations of the agency's standards of conduct." The report didn't say what those violations were. Within a couple hours of Mundo's firing, according to the complaint, someone tried to get into the agency's fiscal computer files by using another employee's password. An examination of the agency's computer systems showed that someone was able to access an electronics records system that tracked children and family information on several occasions between Oct. 9 and Dec. 30, 2008. "It was determined and revealed to (investigators) that many of the private computer files were deleted from their main server," Fennych and Couch wrote. Investigators were able to get an IP address that was used to access the computers, according to the complaint, and it came back to a Verizon Internet account owned by Mundo. On Jan. 15, 2009, investigators seized several computers from Mundo's home. At that time, Mundo said that he had accessed Head Start's computers after he was fired on Oct. 9 so that he could access "his files," according to the complaint. Mundo also told investigators no one else in his family had access to the Head Start computers. Fennych said there's no evidence that any of the information allegedly accessed by Mundo was used for identity theft; Fennych said as far as investigators have been able to determine, the information was deleted from the agency's computer systems. Mundo didn't return a phone message Friday seeking additional information. To see more of Beaver County Times, Pa., or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.timesonline.com. Copyright (c) 2009, Beaver County Times, Pa. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For reprints, email [email protected], call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA. |