Plainfield Man Hacked Into Lemont Pest Company's Computers: Police

LEMONT, IL — A former employee of a Lemont pest control company faces two felony counts of computer fraud after police determined that he had hacked into his former employer’s computer system and altered 50 accounts after he had been fired from the company, police said.

Patrick Towey, 19, of Plainfield, was charged in connection with the criminal computer offenses that involved Lemont-based Mosquito Squad. The Will County Sheriff’s Department said it received complaints from the company in September 2021 regarding possible computer fraud that had taken place.

The manager said company officials determined 50 accounts had been deleted from the company’s records from an outside source, police said. The company’s computer specialist determined the IP address that likely was able to hack into the company’s computer records and were able to trace it to a Plainfield address, police said Monday.

Police said that Will County Sheriff’s detectives went to the residence in March and spoke with Towey, who said he had been fired from Mosquito Squad in May 2021 and was angry about it, a department spokeswoman said.

Towey admitted to hacking into some client accounts and altering their information, but denied hacking into the 50 company officials noticed had been deleted, according to authorities. Police said officials said Towey refused to cooperate with deputies regarding having additional information regarding working with or having knowledge of other people being involved in the computer hacking.

At this time, Towey is the only person who has been charged in the incident, police said.