Miley Cyrus hacker let off with probation
Josh Holly, the self-confessed Miley Cyrus hacker, has avoided jail for unrelated computer crimes, receiving three years’ probation at a sentencing hearing on Monday.
Holly, 22, from Murfreesboro, Tennessee, pleaded guilty last April to possessing about 200 stolen credit card numbers as well as running a celebrity MySpace pages spam scam that earned him an estimated $100,000. Holly was spared jail time because he’d agreed to inform on his former hacking cohorts to the FBI. Defence arguments that he was a “first-time offender of immature mental age,” may also have counted in his favour.
We doubt the bizarre defence contention that Holly’s diminutive height made him unsuitable for the Big House cut any ice with the judge. Holly stands at 5 feet 6 inches, 1.68m, or the same height as celebrated oil-rig firefighter Paul “Red” Adair.
Holly (AKA TrainReq) boasted in 2008 that he had cracked the Gmail account of Miley Cyrus and stole provocative pictures of the then 15-year-old before posting them online. The Hannah Montana star supposedly sent the sexually suggestive pics – which featured the teen in a wet T-shirt – to singer Nick Jonas of the Jonas Brothers before Holly raided them from the compromised account. He was never charged with this particular crime but was instead arrested and charged over unrelated cyberscams, following an FBI raid on his flat in October 2008.
Wired has more details on Holly’s various misdeeds, alongside a copy of his mugshot, in a story on his sentencing here. ®
Article source: http://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.co.uk/2011/11/01/miley_cyrus_hacker_probation/