Damon Patrick Toey, 25, the last of the U.S. based partners of computer hacker Albert Gonzalez faces a judge for sentencing today in Boston. The U.S. Attorney for the District of Massachusetts has recommended a sentence of six years.
According to prosecutors, Toey played a key but subordinate role in Gonzalez' hacking operation, at one point locating and in effect hiring a computer expert somewhere in the former Soviet Union to decrypt encoded personal identification numbers. At another point, prosecutors said Toey moved into Gonzalez apartment to help him move from hacking to compromise payment networks, as he had done in early hacks, to compromising corporate databases that contained millions of card records.
But despite all this, prosecutors still recommended only six years, citing Toey's assistance in helping them bring cases against the other conspirators.
"Through its recommendation, the government seeks to balance the need for general deterrence, a punishment which reflects Patrick Toey's active partnership in a computer hacking and identity theft organization responsible for victimizing millions of people, Toey's subordinate role in that organization, and his immediate cooperation and extensive assistance in the investigation of this case."
