6,000 Yahoo Accounts Hacked By Tracy Man Seeking Sex Pics, Video

TRACY, CA — A former Yahoo software engineer pleaded guilty Monday in federal court in San Jose to charges related to his hacking into the accounts of thousands of the web services company's users to search for private and personal items like sexual images and videos, prosecutors said.

Reyes Daniel Ruiz, 34, of Tracy, had been indicted in April on charges of computer intrusion and interception of a wire communication for the hacking into of about 6,000 Yahoo accounts, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.

Ruiz admitted to primarily targeting accounts belonging to younger women, including his friends and work colleagues, then made copies of images and videos that he found in their personal accounts and stored the data at his home, prosecutors said.

Ruiz also admitted to then using information from the Yahoo accounts to compromise other online accounts for services like Facebook, Gmail and iCloud, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.

After his employer saw suspicious account activity, Ruiz also admitted to destroying the computer and hard drive where he had stored the files.

Ruiz is set for sentencing on Feb. 3 in San Jose and faces up to five years in prison for each count. He is currently out of custody on a $200,000 bond, prosecutors said.
—Bay City News