Man Pleads Guilty to Attempting to Steal Greene County Company Client Information

DAYTON – Christopher Paul Murphy, 68, of Golden Valley, Ariz., pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court to intentionally accessing a protected computer without authorization.

Benjamin C. Glassman, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio, and Angela L. Byers, Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Cincinnati Division, announced the plea entered into before U.S. District Judge Walter H. Rice.

According to the statement of facts in this case, Murphy intentionally attempted to access a protected computer system last month without authorization in an effort to gain information for his own private commercial gain.

Murphy planned to obtain client information of customers of National BiWeekly Mortgage Administration, Inc. (NBA) in Xenia. Murphy wanted to use the information to solicit customers to his own similar business.

The defendant attempted to obtain the information by causing an email containing malware to be sent to an NBA employee. He also provided a thumb drive to an NBA employee and directed that, in the event the malware failed, the employee should download the company’s client lists onto the thumb drive.

Murphy pleaded guilty to one count of intentionally accessing a protected computer without authorization, which is a federal crime punishable by up to five years in prison.

U.S. Attorney Glassman commended the investigation of this case by the FBI and Assistant United States Attorney Brent G. Tabacchi, who is representing the United States in this case.