By:Yuritza Arroyo
Burlington County authorities have announced additional charges for a Mount Laurel police officer accused of hacking and distributing naked pictures.
According to officials and Evesham Township Police, a Mount Laurel police officer was charged in October with hacking into the social media accounts of an Evesham woman and distributing her nude pictures has been charged with similarly victimizing multiple other women.
Officials say, Mr. Ayron Taylor, 22, of Delran, was taken into custody on Wednesday and released this afternoon following the first appearance in Superior Court in Mount Holly.
Taylor faces 87 new charges that accuse him of illegally accessing the social media and email accounts of 18 additional women and, in several instances, distributing their nude photos to people on their contact lists.
According to officials, the investigation began in September after the initial victim contacted Evesham Township police to report that her Snapchat and Facebook accounts had been hacked by an unknown person who then sent nude photos she had taken of herself to her Snapchat contacts, messaged them to her Facebook friends, and posted them on her Facebook wall.
The complaints allege 28 counts of second-degree crimes that include Computer Criminal Activity and Distribution of Child Pornography, which was brought against him because some of the photos he accessed were taken before the victims became legal adults.
The remaining 59 counts are third-degree charges, including Elements of Computer Theft and other cyber-related crimes.
The investigation determined the commonality among all victims was that each had a student email account through Rowan College at Burlington County.
The investigation further determined that Taylor illegally accessed over 2,800 RCBC email accounts. Some of this activity occurred while he was on duty and sitting in his patrol car, utilizing personal electronic devices.
The department suspended him following the initial charges and began measures to terminate his employment. He has since resigned from the force.
The college released the following statement from President Dr. Michael A. Cioce:
“This is a repugnant cyber intrusion of privacy against the college and, especially, many of our students. Rowan College at Burlington County immediately strengthened network security upon the first report of the incident.
Although there was no systemic failure of the college’s technology infrastructure, there is always an opportunity for stronger security measures. The college’s Office of Student Support can provide assistance to victims who are impacted."