Men arrested for breaking into Dallas County Courthouse after being hired them to test ‘vulnerability’
Dallas County IA Sept 16 2019
Two men arrested for breaking into the Dallas County Courthouse told law enforcement they were hired to do so by the judicial branch.
The men, outfitted with numerous burglary tools, told authorities they were on contract to test out the courthouse alarm system’s viability and to gauge law enforcement’s response time, an alleged contract that Dallas County officials said they had no knowledge of, according to a criminal complaint.
The Des Moines Register reports 29-year-old Justin Wynn, of Naples, Fla., and 43-year-old Gary Demercurio, of Seattle, were found in the courthouse early Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2019, after an alarm was tripped. Both face burglary charges and are being held on $50,000 bond apiece.
Authorities later found out the state court administration did, in fact, hire the men to attempt “unauthorized access” to court records “through various means” in order to check for potential security vulnerabilities of Iowa’s electronic court records, according to Iowa Judicial Branch officials.
But, the state court administration “did not intend, or anticipate, those efforts to include the forced entry into a building,” a Wednesday news release from the Iowa Judicial Branch read.
Evidently, the courthouse’s security system did its job. The alarm system was triggered by the two men whom law enforcement found walking around the courthouse’s third floor at about 12:30 a.m. Wednesday, court records show.
The men were employed with Coalfire, a cybersecurity advisor headquartered out of Colorado, Iowa Judicial Branch spokesman Steve Davis confirmed.
A spokesperson for Coalfire declined to comment on the situation Wednesday afternoon.
They are set to make another appearance at the Dallas County Courthouse, only this time, not of their own volition, on Sept. 23 for preliminary hearings. The Dallas County sheriff declined to comment, as the investigation is ongoing.
The state court administration issued an apology Wednesday to Dallas County officials, who are continuing to investigate the break-in.
Des Moines Register
