COURT HOUSE — Former Cape May County Herald employee Ricarte “Rick” Racela of Villas pleaded guilty before Superior Court Judge Raymond A. Batten Thur., Oct. 6 to an amended charge of computer theft of the Herald’s website on Feb. 4.
Racela told the judge he had no recollection of the incident.
Sentencing was set for Fri., Nov. 4 at 9 a.m.
The statute to which Racela entered his plea was NJSA 2C: 20-25f.
Racela was charged by Cape May County Prosecutor Robert L. Taylor after a month-long investigation of Racela’s computer by the County Prosecutor’s Office Computer Crimes Unit.
He surrendered to the Prosecutor’s Office, was served with the charges and released on his own recognizance.
As a result of the hacking incident, the entire Herald website was rendered useless.
As part of the plea, Racela agreed to 200 hours of community service, three years probation, and a $2,000 fine.
Additionally, he must have no contact with the Herald website, nor is he to permit any “surrogate to engage in any prohibited contact” with the website, including posting of any Spout Offs.
Further, he is not to interfere, directly or indirectly, with the Herald’s business operations.
Defense attorney John Tumelty told the Herald it was not his client’s intention to “make the website crash.”
He maintained Racela’s action was “accidental” and while he “should not have been (in prohibited areas of the site) it was not his intent to crash the site.”
“He has apologized,” said Tumelty.
“It has cost him and his family a lot of worry and concern,” added Tumelty.
Speaking for the Herald and its staff, Art Hall, publisher, expressed his gratitude to the prosecutor and his dedicated staff for their efforts and professionalism which brought this case to a timely conclusion.
“Their investigation determined that the attack on the Herald website had been a deliberate, multi-pronged effort to cause the Herald site to crash, and ultimately led to Racela’s arrest, conviction and confession,” Hall stated.
Assistant County Prosecutor Dara Paley presented the state’s case. She deferred any comment to Prosecutor Taylor.
Contact Campbell at (609) 886-8600 Ext 28 or at: al.c@cmcherald.com
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