Article | Archive
A Greenacres-area man is facing charges of trying to steal sensitive computer equipment from the Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections Office.
The arrest comes at a time of concern about election security nationwide, even as studies and audits have found there are few incidents of fraud and that balloting is safe on all levels across all 50 states.
The Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office said John Dominick Panicci, 59, stole an encrypted access key from a voter registration terminal during a training session for elections volunteers on March 19, ahead of the March 24 election. Photos from the training session captured him in the act, a sheriff's news release said.
"While the key was configured solely for training databases, there was concern that a knowledgeable individual could potentially reverse engineer the encryption and reintroduce it into a voter registration kiosk for malicious purposes," the sheriff's office said.
Detectives obtained a warrant to search his home and recovered the key as well as a large number of electronic and digital-storage devices, according to the sheriff's news release. They took him into custody late on Saturday, March 28.
Panicci faces charges of property crimes and theft charges related to the destruction, taking or damaging of computer equipment. The Florida Statues list penalties ranging from five to 30 years in prison if convicted.
County Judge Frank Castor set Panicci's bail at $6,000 during a hearing on Sunday, March 29, at the jail, according to court records. An initial case conference is scheduled for May 21 before Circuit Judge Sherri Collins.
The county Public Defender's Office represented Panicci at the hearing. As a policy, it does not comment on open cases.
A Greenacres-area man is facing charges of trying to steal sensitive computer equipment from the Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections Office.
The arrest comes at a time of concern about election security nationwide, even as studies and audits have found there are few incidents of fraud and that balloting is safe on all levels across all 50 states.
The Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office said John Dominick Panicci, 59, stole an encrypted access key from a voter registration terminal during a training session for elections volunteers on March 19, ahead of the March 24 election. Photos from the training session captured him in the act, a sheriff's news release said.
"While the key was configured solely for training databases, there was concern that a knowledgeable individual could potentially reverse engineer the encryption and reintroduce it into a voter registration kiosk for malicious purposes," the sheriff's office said.
Detectives obtained a warrant to search his home and recovered the key as well as a large number of electronic and digital-storage devices, according to the sheriff's news release. They took him into custody late on Saturday, March 28.
Panicci faces charges of property crimes and theft charges related to the destruction, taking or damaging of computer equipment. The Florida Statues list penalties ranging from five to 30 years in prison if convicted.
County Judge Frank Castor set Panicci's bail at $6,000 during a hearing on Sunday, March 29, at the jail, according to court records. An initial case conference is scheduled for May 21 before Circuit Judge Sherri Collins.
The county Public Defender's Office represented Panicci at the hearing. As a policy, it does not comment on open cases.
“. Fuck his ass