Friday, August 26, 2005

'Kutztown 13' Hackers Quietly Offered Deal

An AP newswire article by Michael Rubinkam, via Yahoo! News, reports that:

The case against the "Kutztown 13" — a group of high school students charged with felonies for tinkering with their school-issued laptop computers — seems to be ending mostly with a whimper.

In meetings with students over the last several days, the Berks County juvenile probation office has quietly offered the students a deal in which all charges would be dropped in exchange for 15 hours of community service, a letter of apology, a class on personal responsibility and a few months of probation.

"The probation department realizes this is small potatoes," said William Bispels, an attorney representing nearly half of the accused students.

The 13 were initially charged with computer trespass and computer theft, both felonies, and could have faced a wide range of sanctions, including juvenile detention.

The Kutztown Area School District said it reported the students to police only after detentions, suspensions and other punishments failed to deter them from breaking school rules governing computer usage.

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