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A Florida man will face penalties for hacking into 19 women's private email accounts.
By Jenna Birch — Written on May 21, 2020
We were appalled and saddened when we found out about ESPN reporter Erin Andrews' stalker, who removed the peep-hole of her hotel room and took a video of her doing her hair while undressed to spread on the internet like wildfire.
That was a few years ago, and cyber-harassment is all-too prevalent, in our opinion.
Case in point, a 2011 cyber-sex scandal that's just as distressing as Erin's story.
Florida-resident Joseph Bernard Campbell hacked the private email accounts of 19 women, most of whom he was familiar with, and stole naked and nearly-naked pictures of them.
Then, he posted them as the women's Facebook profile photos, exposing them to public humiliation of the worst kind. Reports indicate Campbell's goal was to "harass the victims and cause them emotional distress."
Lt. Bill Sohl of the Belleair Police Department said the women were understandably "devastated.
All of a sudden they were getting phone calls from their friends, saying, ‘Do you know what's on your Facebook page?'"
As if that weren't enough, Campbell also posted the nude pics on a website called "Pinellas County Sluts," another titled "Dumpster Sluts," and lastly, a forum simply entitled "Revenge." All these sites are now deactivated.
According to sources, Campbell is planning to plead guilty to cyberstalking and "unauthorized access to a computer," or, y'know, many computers.
But tragically, the maximum punishment for his actions is five years in the slammer and a $250,000 fine, although he is probably going to "receive a lesser sentence."
…Even though he's permanently tarnished the reputation of these women in a way that will likely haunt them for the rest of their lives. We only have one word: Sad.