Man imprisoned for breaking into security firm’s computers after he quit his job
Davie FL July 2 2017 A former employee of Navarro Security Group was sentenced to seven years in federal prison on Friday for wreaking havoc by repeatedly breaking into the company’s computer system after he resigned from his job.
Jonathan Lee Eubanks, 29, of Davie, was convicted of intentionally damaging his former employer’s computer system, stealing identities and illegally using other people’s credit cards to make purchases.
After his resignation, Eubanks repeatedly illegally logged into the company’s computer system in January 2013 using software he had surreptitiously installed on a former co-worker’s computer, prosecutor Jared Strauss said.
Using the software that allowed him to log in from other locations, Eubanks deleted all of the files on one of the company’s computer servers, including databases of client and employee information and files used to schedule and track employee shifts, prosecutors said.
“He also re-directed the company’s website so that visitors were instead connected to the website of a competing security firm,” they said.
The company was founded by former Broward County Sheriff Nick Navarro, who died in 2011.
Eubanks also used a former co-worker’s email to send multiple messages to the company’s employees and clients “disparaging the company and accusing it of illegal practices,” according to court records.
Weeks later, he placed a series of online orders for rifle scopes, survivalist gear, and electronics, using credit cards and names belonging to three people whose identities he had stolen.
Prosecutors recommended a severe sentence for Eubanks because they said he not only committed those crimes but also repeatedly lied to the jury when he testified in his trial earlier this year in federal court in Fort Lauderdale.
Eubanks denied he knew anything about the crimes, which the prosecution said was clearly false testimony. Jurors rejected his testimony and convicted him of all the charges.
“[This] does not punish the defendant for simply exercising his constitutional right to proceed to trial or even for exercising his right to testify. The Supreme Court has repeatedly held that a defendant’s right to testify does not include a right to commit perjury,” prosecutors wrote.
Assistant Federal Public Defender Daryl Wilcox wrote in court records that Eubanks had a difficult childhood.
Eubanks, who wrote letters to the judge from jail, said he had been using marijuana and drinking alcohol “excessively during the trial.” He also said he was addicted to oxycodone prescription pain pills.
Senior U.S. District Judge James Cohn sentenced Eubanks, who has been jailed since the guilty verdict in April, to a total of seven years in prison.
Sun Sentinel
