“Earlier today, a criminal complaint was unsealed charging Yehuda Katz, a New York City Police Department (NYPD) Auxiliary Deputy Inspector… with executing a scheme to hack into a restricted NYPD computer and other sensitive law enforcement databases,” the press release, issued on Tuesday, said.
Katz was arrested on Tuesday morning and appeared before a New York City court later in the day, according to the FBI.
“The defendant allegedly used his position as an auxiliary officer to hack into restricted computers and networks in order to obtain the personal information of thousands of citizens in a scheme to enrich himself through fraud,” US Attorney for the Eastern District of New York Loretta Lynch was quoted as saying in the release.
Katz allegedly installed electronic devices in NYPD’s Traffic Safety Office to remotely access law enforcement computers and databases, including one restricted FBI database, and was able to obtain traffic accidents victims’ identities, according to the release.
Katz allegedly contacted victims, falsely claiming he was an attorney ready to assist them, according to the FBI. Between May and August 2014, the defendant ran over 6,400 queries in sensitive law enforcement databases.
