Baby-Faced Teen's Hacking Arrest Draws Fire

Last week’s arrest of a 14-year-old Paul R. Smith Middle School student on felony charges is drawing fire from critics as the tale of the boy’s computer-related prank goes viral.

Domanik Green is accused of using a teacher’s password to access his school’s computer network and poke around for a time back on April 2. He gained access to the network where FCAT testing information is stored, but he didn’t tamper with its contents, school district officials said. What he is accused of doing is hijacking a teacher’s computer and changing its desktop image to display a picture of two men kissing. He also reportedly took control of friends’ computers and messed around with their onboard cameras.

For those alleged actions, Green was charged with a third-degree felony count of offense against a computer system/unauthorized access on April 8. He was also suspended from school.

See Also:

• Racy Photo Displayed in Classroom Courtesy of Teen Hacker, Deputies Say
• Former Student Hacked Computers, Changed Grades

That charge has catapulted the bespectacled teen into the media spotlight as some wonder just how a prank could result in such serious charges.

“Another devious, young techno-wiz was placed safely behind bars,” Gawker writer Ashley Feinberg penned. “The crime? Changing the desktop background to two dudes kissin’.”

“Remember when students could pull a harmless prank on a teacher and now wind up being charged with a felony,” Libertarian Republic asked its readers. That blog post’s author outlined Green’s story and went on to conclude: “Holding children and young adults to the same standards of fully formed adults doesn’t make them better; it ensures that their development is arrested.”

The Tampa Bay Times reports that all told more than a dozen writers have blasted the Pasco County Sheriff’s Office’s decision to charge the teen with a felony. Even so, Sheriff Chris Nocco is holding his ground. He pointed out that Green had been suspended back in October for similar activity.

“I think, unfortunately, when the story’s being told in other (publications), they’re not talking about the fact that he committed this crime previously,” Nocco was quoted by the Times as saying. “We enforce the law. And if we don’t enforce the law, nobody else will.”

While Patch doesn’t normally identify teen suspects, the boy and his mother have both come forward in recent days to share their side of the story. The boy told WTSP he wasn’t notified back in October that accessing the computers was illegal.

“If they had notified me that it was illegal, I wouldn’t have done it in the first place,” Green told the station.

His mother, Eileen Foster, said her son had access to files he could have changed, but he didn’t. He chose to pull a prank instead, which in her eyes means he “doesn’t deserve a felony charge.”

Green will most likely avoid trial, the Times noted, by participating in a pre-trial intervention program.

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