Jury Convicts Texas Man of Computer Fraud, Aggravated Identity Theft

ALBANY, NEW YORK – A jury on Friday convicted Tyler C. King, age 30, of Dallas, Texas, of computer fraud and aggravated identity theft in connection with his hacking of a New York-based technology company.

The announcement was made by United States Attorney Grant C. Jaquith and James N. Hendricks, Special Agent in Charge of the Albany Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).

The evidence at the 5-day trial established that King – the founder of a defunct Texas computer repair company – conspired with Ashley St. Andria in 2015 to gain access to the computer network of a New York-based technology company that employed St. Andria.

While on the company’s network, King and St. Andria created unauthorized administrator accounts that gave them access to proprietary company information, including real-time access to the emails of senior company executives, personnel files, and financial records.  In response to the company shutting down the fake administrator accounts, King regained access to the network with the assistance of St. Andria, stole proprietary business records, and – through a series of sophisticated steps, including the use of password-cracking programs – bypassed the company’s security measures.  In doing so, King illegally used the credentials of two company employees based overseas.

The jury convicted King of conspiring to commit computer fraud, computer fraud, and two counts of aggravated identity theft.

King faces at least 2 years and up to 19 years in prison, a term of post-imprisonment supervised release of up to 3 years, and a fine of up to $250,000, when Senior United States District Judge Thomas J. McAvoy sentences him on April 3, 2020.  A defendant’s sentence is imposed by a judge based on the particular statute the defendant is charged with violating, the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines, and other factors.

King’s co-conspirator, Ashley St. Andria, age 30, of Irving, Texas, pled guilty to computer fraud on August 15, 2018.  St. Andria is scheduled to be sentenced on February 13, 2020 in Albany by Judge McAvoy.

This case was investigated by the FBI, and is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Wayne A. Myers and Joshua R. Rosenthal.