Gainesville Sun Articles Regarding Jeff Capehart/W4UFL Hacking Of UF IFAS
Computer
I've been having serious problems with Jeff Capehart stalking and harassing me
for many years. I've tried to get him to stop but he seems to have this sick
interest in my life regardless of being told to stay away under threat of
consequence of the law. I don't know what to do to make him stop. I have
complained about this to the auhorities - to no avail. He has mercilessly
encouraged people to attack me, my friends, my associations, and my family. The
full story can be had from my online personal blog:
Where Did Todd Go?...On Dealing With Psychopaths And Stalking. It's sort of
a scary read, though. So be prepared.
It seems Jeff even has friends in Google who are helping him in efforts to make
my blog and its connected pages disappear from Google's search engines. I
didn't even know that anything like that might be possible; but apparently so.
Aparently there are groups in local areas which are allowed a great many
adminstrative powers in Google. They can manipulate search engines such that
the use of the normal keywords which would otherwise call something up on the
screen suddenly cease to work. As I've watched it happen I've taken video -
where a keyword search would one day bring something up RIGHT AT THE TOP, and
the very next, it would disappear from sight even in a perusal that would go as
deep as 2000 links in. It's the most unbelievable thing to watch. But it's
definitely for real. It's been confirmed with witnesses garnered from across
the world, too, so as to confirm that it is indeed a global thing, and not
local, or something that is occuring just with my machine.
Even as recently as February of 2009, I actually caught Jeff hacking
into our AC-EMWIN computer. He had been told two years before that he was no
longer to access that computer anymore. But the AC-EMWIN computer was not the
ONLY computer system that he has hacked into, before. It seems Jeff Capehart is
an ex-con. He's actually been convicted of other computer crimes
before...
Jeff Capehart / W4UFL has apparently hacked into University of Florida's
computer systems in the past...and so has his wife, Susan Ann Tipton / K9PDL.
So it appears that they both have a criminal history of doing this sort
of thing.
I was told that they were found guilty, given 200+ hours of community service,
their computer equipment was confiscated and kept by the State. Then, of
course, after completing all the public service, the case was deferred.
Of COURSE it was deferred. Of course. (sigh!)
I'll do some 'fair use" quoting here (see below updates), but for more details
and to read the entire articles please visit the archived links.
-Todd
Gainesville Sun - Sunrise Final
September 10, 1985
Page 1A, 8A
From Five accused of illegally tapping into UF computers By CAROL ARNOLD Sun staff writer
Four college students and a Gainesville resident, described by investigators
as quiet and introverted, are facing dozens of felony charges for allegedly
tampering with University of Florida computers.
After an eight-month investigation, University of Florida police announced
Monday that the five were formally charged with computer
crimes and that their computer equipment was seized. Jeffrey Donald Capehart, 20, Thomas
Christopher Evans, 23, Glenn M. Lambert Jr., 21, Susan Ann
Tipton, 23, and Michael Kane Bailey, 20, used fictitious names and
deleted records of their entry when they tapped into UF's Institute of Food and
Agricultural Sciences computer system last year, according to the University of
Florida Police Department. Capehart and Tipton are friends, while Evans,
Lambert and Bailey are roommates, police said. All except Bailey are UF
students.
[...]
"They have the potential skills and curiosity to cause
problems in society. The potential for damage was there," West said.
The investigation began in January after IFAS officials complained about
seeing unauthorized computer accounts in their system, according to West and UF
Investigator Walter J. Meade.
[...]
Capehart is charged with
three counts of unlawfully accessing a computer network, conspiracy
to violate Florida's Computer Crimes Act, two counts of unlawfully
modifying computer intellectual data and conspiracy to modify computer
intellectual data.
Evans faces 13 counts of unlawfully accessing a computer network, conspiracy
to violate Florida's Computer Crimes Act, unlawfully modifying computer
intellectual data and conspiracy to modify computer intellectual data.
Lambert is charged with unlawfully accessing a computer network, conspiracy
to violate Florida's Computer Crimes Act and conspiracy to modify computer
intellectual data. Tipton faces one count of unlawfully accessing a computer
network as a principal in the first degree and conspiracy to
unlawfully access a computer network.
Bailey is charged with criminal solicitation to violate the
computer crimes act, a misdemeanor.
(End of Article)
Jeff, Susan, and Christopher had to forfeit their computer equipment to the State...
So what kind of people were Jeff and Susan hanging out with? It should also be noted that in the previous year Bailey was caught stealing a computer...
After receiving an anonymous call, University of Florida Police arrested a 19-year-old man Monday and charged him with stealing a $2,310 computer from a campus building.
Michael Kane Bailey of 1111 SE 16th Ave., was charged with the theft of an Apple computer and two disk drive units from a fifth floor office in Weil Hall, investigators said in an arrest report. An anonymous caller phoned police Monday and told them Bailey had the computer, taken earlier this month.
(End Article)
A few months later, we find the following in the Gainesville Sun on August 19,
1984...
Michael Kane Bailey, second-degree grand theft, adjudication withheld, 18 months probation, $169, continue mental health therapy, have full-time job within 30 days.
UPDATE - JAN 2, 2010: I've been watching the Gainesville Sun archive
articles disappear on a daily basis, now. They're there in the early morning,
and then around "clock in time" in the morning, suddenly keyword searches stop
working and the articles don't come up any more, even when you hunt a thousand
links in. Some people (either in Google or in the Gainesville Sun, or both)
have actually attempted to make all links to these Gainesville Sun articles
disappear from the Google search engines by making any keyword searches
which used to bring them up now fail. (More
here.)
UPDATE - FEB 16, 2010: I've been watching the keyword suppression games
go on for quite a while now. As I mentioined before, some days they're there;
most days, they're not. I'm wondering who would have that kind of power.
Interestingly, while they're able to make the keyword searches for the Google
archives of the Sun articles disappear, they don't seem to be able to do
anything about the web page that I myself created - this web page
- which calls attention to what happened. It's very odd indeed. The Sun
articles disappear, but my web page which refers to them does not. Also, it
should be noted that it's the searches which cease to function. The
actual articles do not themselves disappear. The tool which is used to
find them is what is being manipulated, here. Hmm. I'd like people to
test this regularly, if they would. Type in "jeffrey donald capehart" at
various times of every day. You'll note how they come and go, but that they're
often gone. Odder yet, try "susan ann tipton". They never come up using
that one. Why? How come? Interesting.
UPDATE - SEP 13, 2010: Users should note that when doing a keyword
search for Jeff Capehart or Susan Tipton, the Gainesville Sun archived
articles are now completely removed from all search engines displays.
They used to pop up right up at the top of the list. But mysteriously, now they
no longer display at all. This is deliberate suppression of public information
and is against federal law. Oddly though, now my own article about the
articles themselves now replaces the top spot on ths lists. But it's
not just the removal of the Sun articles from search engine lookup.
...There's a lot of other mischief now going on, too. My own personal web pages
- especially those relating to the harassments that I've been going through -
my blogs, all pages that are referred to in cite/reference links, the related
pages...they're all experiencing similar sorts of attacks. I watch them happen
in my IP logs...sometimes live. Someone repeatedly uses the same keyword
search over and over in Google, endlessly, as if "testing" them. Then they
suddenly stop. After they stop, I'll check those very keywords in Google, and
they no longer work to bring up the pages. It's very interesting, but at the
same time, very disconcerting to know that Joe Blow can have such powerful
access to a search engine - presumably without the search engine company even
knowing about it - and stifle free speech and one's ability to research the
past crimes of others, which is supposed to be public information. The
Gainesville Sun, and Google in taking the responsibility to archive Sun
articles, are considered to be "Guardians" of such information under Florida
Law.
At any rate, the only thing which seems to remain untouched is this very
page...I think because it deals with reference to information which is publicly
available and supported by official sources and which if touched would be
obvious and call attention to itself because it would then deal with the
suppression of official information. I think that is the only thing
protecting this page. But this presupposes that Google itself is aware
of what is going on and is refusing to go "that far".
You know, Mitnick was caught because he believed that he was too smart for
everybody else, and he arrogantly believed he was uncatchable. He even bragged
about that to the authorities. Then he got caught by his own arrogance,
and by his own insistance to keep doing those things.
UPDATE: SEP 26, 2010: I'm now noticing a very unfortunate thing.
Up until now, these attacks have only been to my personal web pages, and to the
Google archives of some articles relating to a past hacking of UF computers.
It now appears that two businesses for which I have
created web pages, have now become the targets of these people. Keyword
searches now no longer work to bring up the pages for the Silver Dragon
Restaurant, and for Mini Storage of Gainesville - both being local
businesses that are run by friends of mine - not by me. Their
only crimes are that I created web pages for them. This is downright
ruthlessly mean. The hackers don't even know these people. This is
going way too far, now, and there is absolutely no excuse for it. So now it
appears that the hackers are attacking what they think
to be my income and livlihood. What they don't realize is...I created
these pages for these people as a favor for their kindness to me. There
is no profit being made by me over this. The pages were created by me
out of the goodness of my heart to help some nice people who were always good
to me, and I was trying to return the favor by doing something kind for them
which hopefully would increase their businesses and livlihoods. Now, one of
the businesses has recently gone out of business. Was it because of what
the hackers have been doing? These people, whoever they are, have now graduated
from harassing and stalking me, to now harassing and stalking my
friends and their businesses. The crimes just keep getting more
and more serious. Who is doing this? WHY? Whatever do my friends
have to do with all this? What did my friends to do them?
UPDATE - SEP 28, 2010: After contacting a number of ham radio- and
computer services-related people and complaining about it, it was hoped that
one or more of these people would knew the hackers or would have contacts who
would contact the hacker(s) and scare them into stopping. When the links for
Mini Storage of Gaineville were checked today, Google mysteriously
started functioning perfectly again, and now MSoG is again back in
Google. However, when the links for Silver Dragon were checked, they werre
still not appearing. The link to their Menu subpage was appearing, but the
main page was still not seen, even 600 links in, no matter what keyword
search method was applied, and even when "gainesville" was attached to the
business name. I guess the hackers felt that since it's already out of
business, why fix it. Eh? Or maybe they just forgot about it.