Zone-H.org - Unrestricted Information - Alleged World of Hell hacker RaFa arrested in Miami by FBI

Alleged World of Hell hacker RaFa arrested in Miami by FBI - The Jesse Tuttle case: Computer crime '

Tuesday, 12 April 2005

This is an article translated by securitynewsportal related to the arrest of RaFa, after which you will find a comment from marq@securitynewsportal, which is followed by a press release issued by the group supporting RaFa. At the end you will find an article about Jessie Tuttle, aka hakahjack the hacker who got arrested two years ago and charged about child pornography. Read it, it shows that things are not always looking like what they appear in the very beginning or at least that sometimes the procedures used by Law Enforcement related to cybercrimes is often as questionable as what crackers are doing. No further comments from Zone-H, let's begin with the articles. ******************************************************************* http://www.securitynewsportal.com Rafael Nunez, a 25 year old from Venezuela, was arrested on Tuesday April 5th in the city of Miami (United States). RaFa is alleged by FBI authorities to have penetrated a military computer system back in June 2001. The military computer system that was hacked was used by the US Air Force to coordinate the training of their personnel. The hack of the computer consisted of a page appearing on the computer monitors of the Air Force staff that read '' Kiss my rear one because yours is mine! '', and a link carried to a page featuring a hacker group called '' World of Hell'' In a news story posted back on March 25 2003 in PC News, RaFa was interviewed for a story called "Conversing with a hacker on IIS 5.0". The same vulnerabilities that were discussed in that news article were the type that had been used against the hacked US Air Force computers. Also in that same news article Rafael Nunez confirmed that he operates in the "cyber world" under the name RaFa and that he had dedicated his life to investigating security vulnerabilities and not to exploit them or cause damage. It was his goal to share his knowledge so that those responsible for securing systems could take appropriate action to secure their systems. Unfortunately it would appear that RaFa's involvement with the 'World of Hell' hacker group may prove to be his undoing. He was part of the WoH in June 2001 when they set a hacker record of 679 web site defacements in one minute. RaFa was also alleged to have been the brains behind the August 2001 theft of secret NASA documents relating to very important designs for future generation space vehicles. Rafael was scheduled to appear before a federal Judge in Miami to determine if he would be released on bail and to hear the first listing of the charges pending against him. He is to be delivered to the police authorities in Denver Colorado where the crimes were primarily alleged to have occurred for further processing of the case against him. marq@securitynewsportal's comments: Some fast thoughts on this breaking news story : 1 ) this is an excellent reason for foreign hackers to NOT visit the United States... ever... 2 ) the US government has a long memory and doesn't tend to forget about people it wants to arrest.. even if they have been retired for quite a long time 3 ) it's too bad that the US and Venezuela are in strained political relations at this time... as that probably leaves RaFa all alone in this battle 4 ) this bust could lead to a whole new round of Anti United States hackings.. RaFa had a lot of friends and some of them may be coming out of retirement... ******************************************************************** This is the press release issued by the supporting community: Da: M. Seth Pack [mailto: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it ] Inviato: lunedì 11 aprile 2005 18.42 A: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it Oggetto: About Rafael Nunez Rafael Nuñez (RaFa), former member of the hacker gang World of Hell was arrested in the Miami airport by ICE on April 2. According to arrest warrants unsealed three days after his arrest, he broke into a US Air Force computer server in Denver Colorado which provided training for Air Force personnel in 2001. The reputation of Rafa as a world-famous hacker is known by many, but to more is his reputation for helping others. Rafa was the deputy director of the Counter Pedophilia Investigative Unit, where he was indispensable to online efforts in curbing online predators and child pornographers, both in national efforts within the United States and in similar efforts around the world. Rafa has not only worked with the CPIU is merely programming fields but has worked in virtually every facet of the organization. The organization now believes it will be permanently stifled so long as he is unable to continue to use his amazingly diverse talents in the field of computer security and forensics to their aid. He is also associated with another organization, Perverted-Justice, which has produced evidence leading to 10 criminal convictions of online child predators in the last 10 months and the recovery of an abducted girl in September of 2004. He also aided Venezuelan authorities, the CICPC (the equivalent of the American FBI) in helping find kidnapping victims. He has worked with ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) and the U.S. Embassy at times, as well as done a great deal of not-for-profit work to raise awareness about and further prevent online security exploits. Rafa is also known for his computer security advisements to the New York Times, PC-World, Computer-World, Security Focus, as well as many other media outlets. It is the hopes of many that in the pursuit of justice Rafael Nunez is allowed to someday continue to use his talents as an ethical professional in this field just as he has in the last couple years: to help increase worldwide computer security, improve the art of computer forensics, and aid in the international plight of exploited and abused children. A federal grand jury in Denver, Colorado indicted Rafa on April 5th, he is charged with unlawfully accessing a nonpublic government computer, punishable by up to a year in prison, and damaging a protected computer, punishable by up to 10 years in prison. He is currently in the process of hiring an attorney. For more information on the aid of Rafael Nunez, you may contact his brother at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it --------------- let me know if u think you can post that, thanks -- M. Seth Pack Director Counter Pedophilia Investigative Unit http://www.CPIU.US ****************************************************************** Finally, this is Jesse Tuttle article: http://www.citybeat.com/2005-04-06/news.shtml which follows the orginal article about his arrest: http://www.enquirer.com/editions/2003/07/28/loc_wwwloc1ahacker28.html Computer crime 'agent' isn't a cop at all By Leslie Blade Photo By David Sorcher Jesse Tuttle shows the electronic monitoring device he's worn nearly two years while awaiting trial, which is schedule to begin Monday. A Camp Dennison man's trial, set to begin Monday, raises important questions about what constitutes child pornography, how it gets into computers and who is legally liable for possessing it. But Jesse Tuttle's trial could also call into question the competence -- and more important the legality -- of the way Internet crime is investigated and prosecuted. A CityBeat investigation has found that the Hamilton County Sheriff's Office allowed a civilian employee without law enforcement training to execute a search warrant at Tuttle's home. Prosecutors told judges the man is a police officer, and defense attorneys apparently didn't check. In addition to jeopardizing the case against Tuttle, legal deficiencies in the search of his home and computer could point to problems with other cases handled by the Regional Electronics and Computer Investigations Task Force (RECI), composed of investigators and analysts from the sheriff's office and the Cincinnati Police Department. 'He is not an officer' On the morning of May 6, 2003, Tuttle heard a loud knock at the door. Officers with RECI told him he was under arrest and his home was searched. It wasn't the first time. Tuttle, known in cyberspace as "Hackah Jak," has had law enforcement show up on his porch multiple times. Typically, it's been the feds. This time, however, the person who executed the warrant wasn't really a police officer at all. The warrant, the accompanying affidavit, the inventory of items seized and the warrant return were all signed by John Ruebusch, an electronic crimes analyst with RECI. The Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution protects us against unreasonable searches and seizures. If the police want to search your house without your consent, they need a warrant. Rule 41 of the Ohio Rules of Criminal Procedure state that only a judge or magistrate may issue a warrant "upon the request of a prosecuting attorney or a law enforcement officer." Ruebusch is neither. Hired as a computer programmer/analyst in May 1998, Ruebusch signed a document titled "Oath of Office," which states, "I accept my commission as deputy sheriff of the Hamilton County (Ohio) Sheriff's Department." He was issued badge 259. But Ruebusch's file contains no certificate attesting to his completion of peace officer training. The "oath" he took doesn't make him a cop, according to James A. Conser, professor of criminal justice at Youngstown State University and former assistant executive director of the Ohio Peace Officers Training Commission from 1999-2002. "That oath that he signed apparently is only documenting his affiliation with the Hamilton County Sheriff's Office," Conser says. "It is not indicating peace officer status." That could be a problem in the Tuttle case. "It is my understanding under Ohio Law that you needed to be a peace officer to execute a search warrant," Conser says. CityBeat contacted the Ohio Attorney General's Office to clarify Ruebusch's status. "John P. Ruebusch is a civilian employee in the Hamilton County Sheriff's Office," says Bob Beasley, spokesman for Attorney General Jim Petro. "He is not a peace officer and therefore does not have a certificate number." The Rules of Criminal Procedure and state law only allow for law enforcement or a prosecuting attorney to execute a search warrant -- not "civilian employees," according to William Mason, president of the Ohio Prosecuting Attorneys Association. If Ruebusch isn't a police officer, his participation in searching suspects' homes raises constitutional issues, according to Cincinnati attorney Martin Pinales, first vice president of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. "Clearly it's an unlawful search," he says. "The U.S. Constitution holds that a person's home is their castle. A civilian is not a governmental entity. I am sure it rises to a constitutional violation." Steve Barnett, spokesman for Sheriff Simon Leis Jr., referred calls to Gail Wright, legal counsel for the sheriff's office. Wright said on April 1 that she would have a comment "as soon as possible." Lurid shampooing Several deputy sheriffs were involved in the search of Tuttle's home. Ruebusch, however, was the person who executed the warrant. In pretrial hearings, prosecutors described Ruebusch as a police officer. Assistant Prosecutor Kevin M. Hardman continually referred to Ruebusch as "Agent" throughout court proceedings last year. In one memorandum, for example, Hardman wrote, "As such, agents Ruebusch and (Rick) Sweeney were fully acting within their police authority and on good faith in executing the search warrants obtained by Judge Dinkelacker." Common Pleas Judge Thomas Crush seemed confused as to Ruebusch's status, saying, "I think I'm going to permit Mr. Ruebusch or Officer Ruebusch, however it is addressed" to stay in the courtroom. Asked to describe his qualifications, Ruebusch said he had been a computer consultant for various companies for about 10 years before joining the sheriff's office. Then he was asked about his educational background. "Yes, I took some computer science, some college, but I did not complete it," he testified. A review of Ruebusch's personnel records clashes with records from the University of Cincinnati. In his job application with the sheriff's office, Ruebusch stated he attended UC from 1990-1992. But the registrar's office at UC says Ruebusch attended UC from September 1990 through June 1991, or one academic year. The case against Tuttle began when a freelance writer in Columbus tipped Ron Bien, the county's telecommunications director. "That is how the case opened up and the investigation began, was based on that e-mail that was forwarded to me from Ron Bien," Ruebusch testified. That e-mail was from freelance writer John Lasker, who tried to sell an article about Tuttle to CityBeat. The court record refers to Lasker as a CityBeat writer, but he actually sold the story to The Cincinnati Post. Tuttle was originally charged with illegally accessing two public Hamilton County Web sites, www.hamilton-co.org and www.hcso.org. In June 2003 a grand jury handed up an indictment charging Tuttle with six counts of unauthorized use of property. Tuttle saw that coming. It was the additional 10 counts of pandering sexually oriented matter involving a minor that caught him off-guard. The 25-year-old is facing 80 years in prison. While checking for evidence Tuttle had illegally hacked into county computers, investigators found child pornography, according to an affidavit by Det. Rick Sweeney, RECI's unit commander. The affidavit was in pursuit of a second search warrant, this time to search for child pornography. "During a preview of one of the computers, detectives recovered an image of a female juvenile in a shower washing her hair," the affidavit said. "The female depicted appears to be less than 12 years of age." Crush's reaction is telling. "This is just a nude picture of a child doing nothing?" Crush said. "Just standing in a shower? That's pornography?" Defense attorney Candace Crouse pressed Sweeney on the stand. "So your testimony is that you don't know the definition of pornography, but you just thought that was pornography or what?" Crouse said. "How did you come to the conclusion so that you could represent to the judge that was pornography ... You don't know the definition of pornography?" "Correct," Sweeney said. But whatever images were found on Tuttle's computer could become irrelevant if the initial search warrant is thrown out, according to Richard Goldberg, president of the Greater Cincinnati Criminal Defense Lawyers Association. "The warrant appears to be improper and any evidence obtained as a result of it should be suppressed both under the Ohio and U.S. Constitutions and the Bill of Rights," he says. Goldberg would also like to see how many times this has been the practice of RECI. "If I represented a client that had this same affiant (Ruebusch) in a case that was found guilty, I would be running down to the court house the next day with a motion to withdraw the plea and ask for a new trial," he says. ©

Comments Index (Total Messages: 0)

Post Reply
Name:	Guest
Title:
Comment:
Enter this security word

Powered by a Zone-H(ified) version of AkoComment 3.0!

DISCLAIMER: Forum postings are the opinion of the posting author alone, and should not be taken as the opinion of Zone-h. The author is entirely and solely responsible for all content that he/she uploads, posts, or otherwise transmits via the website. Zone-h is not responsible for such content. However, Zone-h shall have the right, but not the obligation, to delete, move, or edit any content that violates this agreement or is otherwise objectionable as determined by Zone-h in its sole discretion and without notice.

< Prev		Next >

[ Back ]