Hacking Case Student's Lawsuit Against Sachem Schools Dismissed

HOLBROOK, NY — A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit from a former student's mother accusing Sachem School District of forcing him to do unpaid computer work. According to the lawsuit, the school falsely accused Matthew Colicchi, then 17, of hacking into the school's computers after he told his parents about the forced work.

In 2013, Colicchio was charged with trespassing into the Sachem School District's computer system, downloading thousands of student records, and posting them online. Colicchio and his parents, Sandra and Michael Colicchio, of Holbrook, subsequently filed a federal lawsuit alleging that Sachem North staff and administrators forced him to perform unpaid computer labor.

On March 15, a recommendation that the lawsuit should be dismissed was handed down to federal judge Senior District Judge Hurley, who officially dismissed it on April 5. The official reason given for the dismissal was Sandra Colicchio's failure to attend mandatory court appearances or continue to pursue the actions of the lawsuit.

According to the judge's order, the Matthew and Michael Colicchio must discontinue the suit or file a status report within two weeks.

According to the January 17, 2020, complaint from Colicchio and his parents:

"Matthew alleges that during the years 2010 through 2013, while he was a student in the district, the Individual Defendants 'required' him to perform work for the District consisting of "working on the computer system, the computer network and security for computers."

"Matthew 'was repeatedly removed from his classroom learning environment and from his lunch period and was forced [to] perform' this 'uncompensated work.' Matthew was told by Assistant Principal Larson 'that if he did not do the work they wanted him to do on the computers that he would have him arrested by the FBI, and the FBI would raid his house.' Principal Dolan told Matthew that if he did not do the work 'they would have him expelled from school.' When Matthew stopped working on the District computer, 'the Defendants had him expelled from school and had him arrested.'"

Then-principal John Dolan was one of the individually named defendants, along with other staff members and the Sachem Central School District.

In the lawsuit filings, the lawyers for the defendants claimed that "the record is 'devoid of evidence supporting Matthew's claims that he was forced to work for the District without his parents' permission and ordered not to tell his parents.'"

After the hacking was discovered, Colicchio went on to earn a GED and pleaded not guilty to computer trespassing. According to Newsday, he eventually pleaded guilty to a lesser misdemeanor charge and served one year of probation.

The Sachem School District could not immediately be reached for comment, nor could the Colicchio family or their attorney, Scott Lockwood of Deer Park.