Meadville man, 6 others charged with hacking Snapchat accounts, sharing explicit images
Between March 2020 to October 2022, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office in Erie, at least 33 users of the Snapchat social media platform had their accounts hacked.
Sexually explicit photos and videos of the victims were then shared, traded or sold online without their knowledge or consent, and some of the images depicted child pornography, including child sexual abuse, the U.S. Attorney's Office said.
A 33-year-old Meadville resident is accused of heading the seven-person conspiracy behind the hacks and the illegal dissemination of the images. He and some of his co-defendants are also accused of providing scripts to teach others how to hack Snapchat accounts.
A federal grand jury in Erie has indicted the Meadville resident, Richard A. Martz Jr., and six other men on charges including the felonies of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, fraud connected to unlawful computer access and aggravated identity theft. Five of the other defendants are from Pennsylvania, and one is from North Carolina.
"As alleged, the defendants used deception and hacking techniques to unlawfully access social media accounts so that they could steal, hoard and trade explicit and otherwise private content of hundreds of unsuspecting victims,” Eric G. Olshan, the U.S. attorney for the Pittsburgh-based Western District of Pennsylvania, which includes Erie, said in a statement.
"This office and our law enforcement partners will reach far and wide to identify and prosecute those who victimize our communities via the internet, especially when they seek to victimize our most vulnerable population — our children."
The 16-count indictment was returned on July 11 and unsealed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Erie. Based on the indictment, the case is focused on hacks that occurred on users' accounts in the 25-county federal Western District of Pennsylvania.
U.S. District Court in Erie handles cases that originate in seven of those counties, all in the area of northwestern Pennsylvania: Erie, Elk, Forest, McKean, Venango, Warren and Crawford, where Meadville is the county seat.
Feds say case includes many victims yet to be identified
The indictment alleges at least 33 people were victimized, and investigators believe more victims had their accounts hacked and their images posted online. At least three of the victims are minors, according to the indictment.
"We believe there is an extensive network of victims who still haven't been identified," FBI Agent Mike Nordwall, who is in charge of the FBI's Pittsburgh office, which includes Erie, said in a statement.
"The seven people charged exploited their victims and engaged in a predatory behavior that will not be tolerated," Nordwall also said. "Hacking into social media accounts, stealing intimate pictures of unsuspecting victims and then selling and trading them in online forums is nothing short of reprehensible. These victims were re-victimized multiple times as their personal pictures were recirculated."
The U.S. Attorney's Office asked those who believe they are victims in the case to contact the office's victim witness coordinator by email at usapaw.victimwitness@usdoj.gov. Snapchat also has instructions for users whose accounts have been hacked.
The lead assistant U.S. attorney in Erie, Christian Trabold, is handling the prosecution. The case is assigned to U.S. District Judge Cathy Bissoon, who is based in Pittsburgh but hears some Erie cases.
The arrest warrants for all seven defendants were also unsealed on Tuesday. Trabold is recommending that all seven be released on unsecured bonds of $10,000, according to court records.
Allegations vary for seven defendants in hacking case
The defendants accused of the most crimes are listed highest in the indictment. In addition to Martz, who is listed first, the other defendants are:
Dylan M. Miller, 30, of West Mifflin, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania
Christopher Clampitt, 33, of Clemmons, North Carolina, near Winston-Salem
Edward Grabb, 31, of Jeanette, Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania
Michael Yackovich, 27, of West Newton, Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania
Luke R. Swinehart, 22, of Lock Haven, Clinton County, Pennsylvania
Karlin T. Jones, 26, of Beaver Falls, Beaver County, Pennsylvania
All of the defendants are accused of the conspiracy count, according to the indictment. The additional charges against Martz are fraud connected to unlawful computer access, aggravated identity theft and receipt and possession of child sexual abuse materials.
The additional charges against Yackovich are fraud connected to unlawful computer access and aggravated identity theft. Miller, Clampitt and Grabb are also charged with aggravated identity theft, and Miller faces an additional count of possession of child sexual abuse materials.
The maximum prison sentences for those convicted in the case range from 69 years for Martz and 20 years for Swinehart and Jones, who were accused of only the conspiracy count. The federal sentencing guidelines, which account for a defendant's prior record and other factors, could recommend lesser sentences.
Snapchat says abuse of platform is against policy
Snapchat is an online services that lets users capture and share photo, video clips and other materials. It also allows messages to automatically disappear seconds after viewing. The company that owns and runs the Snapchat platform, Snap Inc., is based in Santa Monica, California.
Snap Inc. said it supports the prosecution of those who illegally harm the users of the platform.
"The sexual exploitation or abuse of any Snapchatter is illegal and against our policies," a company spokesperson said in a statement to the Erie Times-News. "We are thankful for law enforcement's efforts to bring perpetrators to justice and regularly support prosecutions of people who exploit our community in these abhorrent ways.
"Snapchat has protections in place to make it harder for predators and strangers to find teens or take advantage of them, and we continue to develop new and innovative ways to combat sexual abuse on our platform.”
The indictment does not detail why the hacking victims were targeted. Martz and the other defendants, except for Swinehart and Jones, are accused in the indictment of hacking the accounts and saving the images and videos on their own devices and their own accounts.
Those defendants are also accused of posting the materials, without the victims' knowledge or consent, "on numerous Internet sites and on social media or encrypted social media applications," according to the indictment. Swinehart and Jones are accused of trading and sharing the materials along with the other defendants.
All of the defendants except Swinehart and Jones, the indictment alleges, also would hack the accounts at the request of others. All the defendants except Miller are accused of using "Internet payment platforms to pay for and receive payments" for the images and videos from the hacked accounts, according to the indictment.
More on Snapchat: What's your Snapscore? Here's how Snapchat scores your profile and how to make it rise.
Regarding the allegations that the conspiracy involved instructing others, the indictment alleges that all the defendants, except Jones, "would pay for, receive, trade and teach others, known and unknown to the grand jury, the instructions, techniques and scripts detailing and explaining how to hack into victim Snapchat accounts" to get access to explicit images and videos.
Contact Ed Palattella at epalattella@timesnews.com. Follow him on Twitter @ETNpalattella.
This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: Erie indictment alleges Snapchat accounts hacked for explicit images
