Source: Office of United States Attorneys
Orlando, Florida – United States Attorney Roger B. Handberg announces that Michael Scheuer (39, Orlando) today pleaded guilty to one count of knowingly transmitting a program, code, or command to a protected computer and intentionally causing damage without authorization and one count of aggravated identity theft. Scheuer faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in federal prison for the computer fraud, as well as a minimum sentence of 2 years in federal prison for the aggravated identity theft. A sentencing date has not yet been set.
According to the plea agreement, Scheuer conducted a series of computer intrusions or attacks directed at his former employer following his termination. These intrusions included manipulating allergen information in restaurant menus to indicate that food items were safe for customers with certain allergies, when they were not. Scheuer also altered menu information related to wine regions to reflect locations of recent mass shootings. Further, Scheuer launched denial-of-service attacks designed to lock certain company employees out of their enterprise accounts. Scheuer agreed to forfeit the computer used to commit the offenses.
This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Tampa Division Orlando Resident Agency Criminal Intrusion Cyber Squad. It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Robert D. Sowell.