Contract Worker at Lucent Arrested for Taking `Proprietary' Documents
By Ken Branson
Posted on: 09/21/1999
An applications engineer from Texas, on temporary assignment at a Lucent Technologies Inc. (www.lucent.com) facility in Mount Olive Township, N.J., has been arrested for allegedly downloading proprietary information from Lucent's computer system.
Police say Joseph L. Hoppe, 26, of Austin, Texas, was detained by Lucent's security people Friday, Sept. 17, when he tried to leave the company's building carrying printouts of "sensitive, proprietary information." Hoppe was employed by Intelligent Reasoning Systems Inc. (www.irsinc.com Austin, police say. A Lucent spokesman says he was training Lucent employees on hardware that his employer was installing at the facility. Lucent makes wireless systems in the facility, the spokesman says.
According to police, Hoppe was charged with unlawfully accessing a computer system, an indictable offense that carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison in New Jersey. A Municipal Court judge set bail at $20,000, and released Hoppe after he paid $2,000--a common practice in New Jersey courts. He is scheduled for arraignment in Municipal Court later this month.
Chirstopher Linne of the Morris County, N.J., prosecutor's office says he doesn't know when, or whether, Hoppe's case will be referred to a grand jury. Linne says Hoppe's arrest may be the first for this offense in Morris County since the law was enacted in 1985.
"This event may be unique in some ways," Linne says. "Most computer crime we deal with has to do with child pornography, terrorism, online stalking or hacking."
Morris County is home to many high-technology and telecommunications installations. Lucent has several installations there, as do AT&T Corp. (www.att.comBell Atlantic Corp. (www.bellatlantic.com), Telcordia Technologies Inc. (www.telcordia.com) and many smaller firms.
A spokesman for Lucent, headquartered in Murray Hill, N.J., declines to characterize the information Hoppe is accused of accessing unlawfully. He says Lucent doesn't have a large problem with such intrusions, and that Lucent's security staff is ever on watch for them. Hoppe, the spokesman says, was in Mount Olive for about three days before being detained and arrested.
A spokesman at Intelligent Reasoning Systems declines to confirm that Hoppe is, or was, an employee.
Intelligent Reasoning Systems produces and installs automated optical inspection systems. |
