State of Michigan Charges Computer Software Salesman Gregg Wysocki With Computer Intrusion, Embezzlement And Use of a Computer to Commit a Crime.Business Editors, High Tech and Legal Writers DETROIT--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 7, 2002 Issued by PC Treasures, Inc.: NOTE: The legal case described in the following news release is of interest to all businesses in the computer age. Following the release is the text of the criminal complaint. Gregg Gregg can refer to:
1 City (1990 pop. 70,745), seat of Olmsted co., SE Minn.; inc. 1858. , Mich., has been arraigned in Michigan's 40th Circuit Court, in Lapeer Lapeer may refer to:
2. valuable and confidential information Noun 1. confidential information - an indication of potential opportunity; "he got a tip on the stock market"; "a good lead for a job" steer, tip, wind, hint, lead from his former employer, PC Treasures, Inc., of Oxford, Mich., which bundles software for builders and resellers of non-branded personal computers. The court scheduled arguments on motions in the case, Michigan Michigan (mĭsh`ĭgən), upper midwestern state of the United States. It consists of two peninsulas thrusting into the Great Lakes and has borders with Ohio and Indiana (S), Wisconsin (W), and the Canadian province of Ontario (N,E). vs. Wysocki, for June June: see month. 10, following a pretrial pre·tri·al n. A proceeding held before an official trial, especially to clarify points of law and facts. adj. 1. Of or relating to a pretrial. 2. hearing April 29. Wysocki is free on a $50,000 personal bond. The criminal complaint alleges computer intrusion An incident of unauthorized access to data or an automated information system. , embezzlement embezzlement, wrongful use, for one's own selfish ends, of the property of another when that property has been legally entrusted to one. Such an act was not larceny at common law because larceny was committed only when property was acquired by a "felonious taking," i. , and use of a computer to commit a crime--felonies carrying potential sentences totaling 35 years in prison and fines up to $35,000. The complaint alleges that Wysocki had copied onto a CD-ROM CD-ROM: see compact disc. CD-ROM in full compact disc read-only memory Type of computer storage medium that is read optically (e.g., by a laser). valuable sensitive and proprietary company documents, many of them in restricted areas under password A secret word or code used to serve as a security measure against unauthorized access to data. It is normally managed by the operating system or DBMS. However, the computer can only verify the legitimacy of the password, not the legitimacy of the user. See NCSC. protection. These documents included a complete set of PC Treasures' accounting records, contracts with software suppliers, profit-and-loss analyses of products, customer and prospect lists, and correspondence with corporate counsel. According to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. the criminal complaint, Wysocki used the information taken from PC Treasures to market himself to a competitor of PC Treasures, e-mailing them a proposal that indicated he would bring them 80,000 prospective customers as resources in the development of his sales base for them and outlined how he would increase their profits by capturing the "white-box market"--the same target market in which PC Treasures had established a strong foothold foot·hold n. 1. A place providing support for the foot in climbing or standing. 2. A firm or secure position that provides a base for further advancement. foothold Noun 1. . PC Treasures has filed a civil suit against Wysocki, its former national sales director, and the competitor Wysocki contacted and joined. Brian Austin Brian Austin was a Queensland politician and Minister of Health from 1980 to 1983 who represented the seat of Wavell for the Liberal Party. , PC Treasures' president, said discovery of the computer crimes came after suspicions were raised by Wysocki's abrupt resignation without prior notice. An examination of his company-owned computer by PC Treasures' technical services director revealed the copying and an attempt to delete To remove an item of data from a file or to remove a file from the disk. See file wipe, trash and undelete. 1. (operating system) delete - (Or "erase") To make a file inaccessible. the records related to Wysocki's copying. It also revealed multiple contacts with PC Treasures' competitor, including its president and vice president. Interviewed by special agents of the High-Tech high-tech also hi-tech adj. Informal Of, relating to, or resembling high technology. high-tech Adjective same as hi-tech Adj. 1. Crime Unit of the Michigan Attorney General's Office, with his attorney present, Wysocki admitted that he had copied the company records, including the marketing information, the mailing list An automated e-mail system on the Internet, which is maintained by subject matter. There are thousands of such lists that reach millions of individuals and businesses. New users generally subscribe by sending an e-mail with the word "subscribe" in it and subsequently receive all new , accounting data, and contact databases from sales territories outside his jurisdiction. Subsequently, in court in connection with the civil action, he admitted under oath Under oath could refer to:
For further information, contact Gabe Werba at 313/961-8899 or werba@ddwpr.com, or David Adrian Adrian, Roman emperor Adrian, Roman emperor: see Hadrian. Adrian, city, United States Adrian, city (1990 pop. 22,097), seat of Lenawee co., SE Mich., on the Raisin River; inc. 1836. at 313/961-5508 or adrian@ddwpr.com. COMPLAINT STATE OF MICHIGAN 71A Judicial District 40th Judicial Circuit DC#: 01-3780 CTN#: 96-01-000102-01 District Ct. ORI: MI440025J Circuit Court ORI: MI440015J AG ORI: MI330025A THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN V GREGG WYSOCKI 1636 Crossbow Rochester Hills, MI 48306 Defendant DOB: August 9, 1961 City/Twp./Village: Metamora County: Lapeer Victim/Complainant: People of the State of Michigan Complaining Witness: Investigator Robert Peplinski Charges: Count One: COMPUTER INTRUSION-MCL 752.795(a) (752.7972A) Count Two: EMBEZZLEMENT-MCL 750.174 (750.1745A) Count Three: USE OF A COMPUTER TO COMMIT A CRIME-MCL 752.796(752.796A) Count One: Felony - up to 5 years and/or $10,000 Count Two: Felony - up to 10 years and/or $15,000 Count Three: Felony - up to 20 years and/or $20,000 Witnesses: Special Agent Robert Peplinski, Special Agent Ives Potrafka, Les Thomas, Brian Austin, Colleen Downs, Kelly Oliver, Dep. Steve Law, Lt. Brian Albright, Trooper Derrick Carroll, Sgt. James May, Chris Carey, John M. Foster STATE OF MICHIGAN, COUNTY OF LAPEER The complaining witness, on information and belief, says: GENERAL ALLEGATIONS 1. GREGG WYSOCKI was employed as a sales representative for PC Treasures, a Metamora-based computer software vendor which packages software and bundles it for computer manufacturing companies. On July 27, 2001, WYSOCKI left employment with PC Treasures and took a job as a sales representative for Microgistix. Microgistix is a competitor of PC Treasures. 2. While employed as a sales representative for PC Treasures, WYSOCKI was given a company laptop to use. After WYSOCKI left his position with PC Treasures, Chris Carey, the systems manager for PC Treasures, discovered evidence on WYSOCKI'S laptop which showed that on July 12, 2001 at 8:10 p.m., WYSOCKI copied numerous sensitive PC Treasures documents on to a CD-ROM from the company's network. According to Carey, WYSOCKI had borrowed a PC Treasures CD burner earlier that same week. WYSOCKI had requested the CD burner for personal reasons and had no work-related need to use a CD burner. However, WYSOCKI interviewed with Microgistix in Minneapolis, Minnesota on July 13, 2001, the day after the sensitive PC Treasures documents were copied on to a CD. 3. The documents burned to a CD included a complete set of PC Treasures' accounting records, contracts with suppliers of software, profit and loss analysis of products, correspondence with corporate counsel, and other records. Employees of PC Treasures had computers that were connected in a network that allowed each user to access files on any computer connected to that network, provided that the user was authorized to access such files. Data was not generally stored in a single central computer, it was distributed on each user's computer, which connected to the network. 4. Some of the files taken from the network and burned to a CD-ROM using WYSOCKI's laptop were password-protected. GREGG WYSOCKI was not authorized or given permission to access a portion of this data. He did not have permission to make or keep copies of any of this data. 5. An examination of GREGG WYSOCKI's laptop revealed that he had accessed files belonging to Brian Austin, the company president. Brian Austin indicated that GREGG WYSOCKI had no permission or reason to access any documents, which were stored on his computer. Further, Austin never gave WYSOCKI permission to copy those documents, or to retain them for any purpose. 6. On August 22, 2001, WYSOCKI was interviewed by Special Agents of the Department of Attorney General, High Tech Crime Unit. After being advised of his Miranda Rights, and with his attorney present, WYSOCKI admitted to the agents that he had copied company records through the network. He used his laptop and copied them to a CD-ROM. The documents WYSOCKI admitted copying included marketing information, the mailing list, accounting data, contact data bases from the East coast and West coast sales. 7. PC Treasures subsequently filed a civil action against GREGG WYSOCKI. In court, under oath, GREGG WYSOCKI admitted to taking financial information from the company, customer databases and documents regarding a pending legal action against a prior employee of the company. Under oath, in the civil action, WYSOCKI further admitted that he copied this data to a CD-ROM because the laptop belonged to PC Treasures. 8. WYSOCKI returned the laptop upon termination, but he kept the CD-ROM. 9. On August 2, 2001, a search warrant was executed on the residence of GREGG WYSOCKI. Numerous items, including the hard drive to WYSOCKI's computer, and the CD-ROM containing all the information described above, taken from PC Treasures' network, was retrieved from WYSOCKI's home. A search warrant was also executed on WYSOCKI's e-mail account with America Online (AOL). A forensic evaluation of the computer hard drive revealed additional evidence as did the contents of his AOL e-mail account. 10. Accountants for PC Treasures estimate that the value of the customer databases and financial information taken by WYSOCKI would be over $100,000 on the open market. 11. WYSOCKI used the information taken from PC Treasures to market himself to Microgistix. WYSOCKI e-mailed a document entitled White-Box Channel Proposal to Microgistix. That proposal indicates that WYSOCKI brings 80,000 prospective customers as resources in the development of his sales base for Microgistix. The proposal outlined how he would increase Microgistix profits by capturing the "white-box market"--the same target market as PC Treasures. 12. Microgistix finalized their offer to GREGG WYSOCKI on July 27, 2001. He began work for Microgistix on August 1, 2001. His base salary for Microgistix was three times what he was making when he left PC Treasures. COUNT I COMPUTER INTRUSION GREGG WYSOCKI did on or about July 12, 2001 in the City of Metamora, Lapeer County, intentionally, and without authorization or by exceeding valid authorization access or cause access to be made to a computer program, computer, computer system or computer network to acquire property or otherwise use the service of a computer program, computer, computer system, or computer network in violation of MCL 752.795(a) and MCL 752.797(1)(2)(a). (752.7972A) Penalty - FELONY up to 5 years and/or a fine up to $10,000. COUNT II EMBEZZLEMENT GREGG WYSOCKI did on or about July 12, 2001 in the City of Metamora in Lapeer County being an agent, servant or employee of PC Treasures did dispose of or convert to his use, or take or secrete with the intent to convert to his own use without the consent of his principal, personal property to wit: customer lists, financial and other proprietary information valued in excess of $20,000 of his principal, PC Treasures, that came to his possession or that was under his charge or control by virtue of his being an agent, servant, employee, trustee, bailee, or custodian in violation of MCL 750.174(1) and (5). (750.1745A) Penalty - FELONY up to 10 years and/or a fine up to $15,000. COUNT III USE OF A COMPUTER TO COMMIT A CRIME GREGG WYSOCKI did on or about July 12, 2001 in the City of Metamora in Lapeer County, use a computer program, computer, computer system, or computer network to commit, attempt to commit, conspire to commit or solicit another person to commit a crime to wit: embezzlement (MCL 750.174(1) in violation of MCL 752.796. (752.796A) Penalty - FELONY up to 20 years and/or a fine up to $20,000. WHEREFORE, Complainant prays that the Defendant be apprehended and dealt with according to law. (Signed by) Robert Peplinski Special Investigator High Tech Crime Unit Taken as subscribed before me this 7th day of Dec. 2001. (Signed by) District Judge Magistrate Complaint and Warrant authorized on 11-27-01 by: (Signed by) WILLIAM J. RICHARDS, DEPUTY ATTORNEY GENERAL Prosecution to be handled by: Sheila Phillips (51656) Assistant Attorney General High Tech Crime Unit, Criminal Division 18050 Deering Road Livonia, MI 48152 (734) 525-4151 |
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