Mom Accused of Hacking into School System and Changing Kids' Grades Faces Felony Charges
A mom in Pennsylvania faces six felony charges on accusations that she hacked into a school district’s computer system to change her children’s grades. Police say the mom is a former secretary for the school district and allegedly used the superintendent’s own password to access the system. Officials also say that she admitted to changing the grades and while she thought her actions were unethical, she didn’t think she was doing anything illegal.
On Studio B, Shepard Smith reported that the mom has been accused of doing this 110 times and in one instance, she changed a grade from a 98 to a 99.
Criminal defense attorney Randy Zelin said there is a spectrum of wrongdoing in the court of law and, “compared to your typical computer hacking case when you do it for financial reasons, you do it to hurt somebody, you cause damage,” this case does not warrant such criminal charges because she didn't hurt anyone.
Former prosecutor Arthur Aidala jumped in, making the point that what happens when her children’s erroneous grades help them get into college over other students’ honest grades. Zelin acknowledged that what the mother did was wrong but said “it will be resolved, she will not go to jail -- she could use perhaps a little bit of supervision, but c’mon, a criminal?”
