'Celebgate': 2nd Chicago Man Admits To Hacking Email, Cloud Accounts

LOS ANGELES, CA — A second Chicago man has admitted to his role in an online scheme to gather and collect the usernames and passwords from more than 550 accounts of actresses and other Hollywood celebrities for nearly 15 months from 2013 to 2014 as part of a plea deal, according to federal prosecutors in California. Emilio Herrera, 32, of Chicago, signed the plea agreement Tuesday that implicated him in the "phishing" scam connected to "Celebgate" and "The Fappening," the names used for the flood of private and sometimes compromising images of celebrities leaked online in 2014, the U.S. Attorney's office in Los Angeles announced.

Herrera is expected to plead guilty to unauthorized access to a protected computer to obtain information when the case is moved to the Northern District of Illinois in Chicago. He could face a maximum sentence of five years in prison.

According to his plea deal, Herrera said he emailed the victims from phony security accounts of internet service providers, asking for the information needed to access the celebrities' Gmail and Apple iCloud accounts. That illegal access — which lasted from the end of April 2013 to the end of August 2014 — allowed Herrera to view the victims' private and sensitive files, which included personal photos and videos, the plea deal stated. (Get Patch real-time email alerts for the latest news for Chicago — or your neighborhood. And iPhone users: Check out Patch's new app.)

Herrera's plea agreement is connected with the FBI's ongoing investigation into the leaks of nude and sexually explicit photos of Jennifer Lawrence, Kate Upton, Kirsten Dunst and other celebrities that began appearing online in September 2014 as part of CeleGate. No evidence linking Herrera to the leaked files or to sharing those leaked files online has been uncovered by investigators, prosecutors said. Prosecutors also did not identify the celebrities who owned the accounts Herrera accessed.

More Patch Celebgate Coverage:

• Chicago Hacker To Admit Guilt In Nude Celeb Pix Case; Is What He Did A Sex Crime?
• Hacker Admits To Illegally Downloading Celebs' Nude Pix From Online Accounts
• Chicago Hacker Receives 9-Month Jail Term For Hacking Celebs' Nude Pix
• Pennsylvania Hacker Charged With Stealing Nude Photos Of Celebrities

Herrera is the second Chicago man to agree to a plea deal in connection with the Celebgate investigation. Edward Majerczyk, 29, formerly of Orland Park, pleaded guilty in September of 2016 to unauthorized access to a protected computer to obtain information as part of a 20-page agreement with prosecutors. He was sentenced to nine months in prison in January.

Ryan Collins, 36, of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, also reached a deal with prosecutors, pleading guilty to a felony violation of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act in March of 2016. He was sentenced to 18 months in prison late last year, according to prosecutors.

FBI investigators are still trying to find out how the celebrities' photos and videos leaked online.

Photo via Shutterstock

Like What You're Reading? Stay Patched In!

• Like our Crime page on Facebook
• Check out the Events Calendar for what’s going on