Hacker in Child Porn Case Denies He Was Working as Police Agent
Originally published by The Associated Press, April 1, 2003
SANTA ANA, Calif. (AP) — A Canadian computer hacker who broke into an Orange County judge's computers and allegedly found child pornography has recanted previous testimony that he was working as a law enforcement agent, prosecutors said.
Bradley Willman of Langley, British Columbia, said he was not working for the police in a case against former Superior Court Judge Ronald C. Kline, federal prosecutors said Monday.
U.S. District Judge Consuelo B. Marshall in Los Angeles ruled last month that Willman illegally invaded Kline's home and courthouse computer where Irvine police said they later found more than 1,500 pornographic images and the judge's diary.
Marshall made the determination when issuing the ruling that Willman was working as a law enforcement agent. Now, the judge is considering suppressing some of the prosecution's strongest evidence because it stemmed from Willman's illegal search.
Willman allegedly accessed Kline's computers by using a program he developed to invade someone's computer and track that person's online activity. He then forwarded his findings to an Internet watchdog group, which alerted Irvine police. A search warrant was later served by police who also questioned Kline.
Kline, 62, has pleaded not guilty to six charges of possessing child pornography. He has also pleaded not guilty to state charges of molesting a 14-year-old boy in the late 1970s.
Federal prosecutors said that Willman worked as an anonymous tipster, not as a police informant, and the court should reconsider his status.
In a declaration signed under oath last month, Willman said he never worked as a law enforcement informant before or during the Kline investigation. He said he was pressured into describing himself as an agent during a deposition by Kline's attorneys Sept. 20.
"All such statements that I was working for law enforcement, either directly, or indirectly through an Internet watchdog group, when I accessed computers and retrieved material are not true," Willman said in the statement. "I made those statements during the deposition because I felt pressured by defense counsel and wanted to get off the stand during a lengthy deposition hearing."
Prosecutors do not dispute that Willman helped the Royal Canadian Mounted Police with a child molestation case before Kline's case. But the U.S. attorney's office maintains that Willman was a cooperative suspect in that case, not an informant.
