Woodbury Man Charged with Stealing Identities of Oakdale Woman, Others Through Facebook

A Woodbury man has been charged with tricking an Oakdale woman and others into giving him enough information to access their email and Facebook accounts, and then taking their photos and posting them on an adult website.

Timothy P. Noirjean, 26, was charged in Washington County District Court with 13 counts of identity theft in connection with the allegations.

According to the court complaint, in February of last year, a then-18-year-old Oakdale woman reported to the Oakdale Police Department that someone had accessed a friend’s Facebook account and exchanged instant messages with her, posing as her friend. She told police she had unwittingly given the person the answers to security questions while chatting, allowing them to get access to her email and Facebook accounts, the complaint says.

During the messaging, she was logged off Facebook, and when she tried to get back in, she was told her password had been changed. The next day, when she was able to access her Facebook page again, she found a link on her friend’s page leading to a sexually explicit website where three photos of her that had been stored in her email account were posted, according to the complaint.

The woman’s friend told police the passwords on her Facebook and email accounts had also been changed the night of the instant messaging session.

After her initial report the woman called police again to report that someone was using her Facebook account to ask five other friends personal questions, and that the person had hacked into another friend’s accounts and posted her photos on the adult website, according to the complaint.

The Oakdale Police Department traced an IP address that had connected with the woman’s computer while she had been chatting back to a Woodbury residence, and gained a warrant to search the home and its computers, the complaint says.

Noirjean’s computer contained folders with photos of women and a folder titled “victory” containing a file with 235 email addresses and what appeared to be the answers to security questions, according to the complaint.

In an interview with authorities, Noirjean admitted to hacking into women’s email accounts, stealing photos and posting them on an adult website, the complaint says. He said he didn’t think what he was doing was wrong, the complaint says. He estimated he had accessed or tried to access about 100 accounts, according to the complaint.

Investigators identified eight women, now ages 17 through 25, who had personal photographs stolen and posted on the site, the complaint says. They also identified nine women whose Facebook accounts were used to access personal information from their friends.

Noirjean is charged with 13 counts of felony-level identity theft, each with a maximum sentence of five years in prison and $10,000 in fines.

His first appearance in court is May 26.