A 19-year-old Berkeley man is being held on $220,000 bail after allegedly hacking over a dozen Bay Area teenage girls' social media accounts looking to access nude photos.
Liam Burgmann was arrested on Monday and remains in custody at the Santa Rita Jail in Dublin, according to Alameda County prison logs. Berkeley Police said in a release on Thursday that Burgmann hacked into the accounts of 17 girls in Alameda, Contra Costa and Marin counties, uploading their nude pictures to social media sites and later trying to extort them more.
The Alameda County District Attorney's Office on Wednesday charged Burgmann with six felonies, including possession of over 600 images child pornography, fraudulent possession of personal information and four counts of fraudulent computer access, according to court records obtained by Berkeleyside. Burgmann was also charged with 14 misdemeanor counts of distributing private intimate images to cause distress, under the state’s "revenge porn" statute.
Several Berkeley High School students told the department's School Resource Officer on May 10 their accounts had been hacked by someone trying to access their nude photos. The School Officer, the department's Youth Services detail and the FBI then identified Burgmann as a suspect, issuing a warrant for his arrest.
Police said detectives found Burgmann had "over 130 videos of child pornography," with images of children between 3 and 12 years old. They also said he had the personal information, including passwords, of over 100 people in order to access their social media accounts.
Burgmann has a hearing scheduled for Oct. 25 in Oakland for a motion to strike, according to prison logs. His attorney, David Cohen, told Berkeleyside he is trying to strike the four felony computer fraud charges because of their vague descriptions in charging documents.
Cohen said a judge on Thursday reduced Burgmann's bail from $1 million. Burgmann's family is expected to post bail over the weekend.
Related
