As seen on ArsTechnica
If you thought the neighbor who returned after getting booted out of Transylvania was bad--meet Barry Ardolf...
A Minnesota hacker prosecutors described as a “depraved criminal” was
handed an 18-year prison term Tuesday for unleashing a vendetta of
cyber-terror that turned his neighbor’s lives into a living nightmare.
Barry Ardolf, 46, repeatedly hacked into his next-door
neighbors’ WiFi network, and used it to try and frame them for
child pornography, sexual harassment, various kinds of professional
misconduct and to send threatening e-mail to politicians, including then-Vice
President Joe Biden.
His motive was to get back at his new neighbors after they told the police he’d kissed their 4-year-old son on the lips.
“Barry Ardolf has demonstrated by his conduct that he is a dangerous
man. When he became angry at his neighbors, he vented his anger in a bizarre and calculated campaign of terror against them,”
(PDF) prosecutor Timothy Rank said in a court filing. “And he did not
wage this campaign in the light of day, but rather used his computer
hacking skills to strike at his victims while hiding in the shadows.
“Over months and months, he inflicted unfathomable psychic damage,
making the victims feel vulnerable in their own home, while avoiding
detection.”
Ardolf had no criminal record, but an investigation revealed that
he’d also hijacked the WiFi of other neighbors, and terrorized them as
well.
A father of two, Ardolf had turned down a two-year plea agreement
last year to charges related to the Biden e-mail. After that, the
authorities piled on more charges, including identity theft and two
kiddie-porn accusations carrying lifetime sex-offender registration
requirements. He pleaded guilty to them all last year.
The bizarre tale began in 2009 when Matt and Bethany Kostolnik moved
in the house next door to Ardolf, who at the time was a Medronic
computer technician living in the Minneapolis suburb of Blaine.
