KETTERING INMATE, MOM PART OF COMPUTER FRAUD CASE

Kettering woman helped son get debit card; prisoner rebuilt, hid computer in jail ceiling.

An Ohio inmate from Kettering who was able to hide a computer in the prison ceiling and use it to commit identity fraud is at the center of an investigation into security failures at Marion Correctional Institution.

Adam C. Johnston, 35, is serving up to life in prison for aggravated murder and aggravated burglary in the 2000 death of Bobby D. Matthews in Vandalia.

He and inmate Scott Spriggs rebuilt and hid two PCs in the ceiling of a training room closet at the prison. The computers were connected to the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction’s computer network and the internet, according to a report released Tuesday from the Ohio Inspector General following a nearly two-year investigation into the incident at the medium security prison in Marion County.

The investigation included a raid by the Ohio State Highway Patrol of Johnston’s mother’s house in Kettering, where evidence that he’d opened a debit card account in another inmate’s name was found. His mother has not been charged.

According to the OIG report, the corrections IT personnel detected unauthorized activity from a computer at the prison in early July of 2015. They were able to trace the activity to a closet in a training area of the prison and found two PCs hidden in the ceiling on

a piece of plywood.

The computers had come from a program in which inmates disassemble unwanted computers into basic parts for Cleveland-based nonprofit agency RET3 to recycle as part of the prison’s green initiative program. Inmates did not rebuild or refurbish computers.

Johnston and Spriggs both worked with that program. In interviewing Johnston, he said Spriggs re-assembled the computers, and he was the one that moved them to a separate training area and hid them in the ceiling at least a month before they were discovered.

“Johnston admitted to investigators that he used the computer to text message his mother ... Johnston also confirmed to investigators that he downloaded pornography that was found on a thumb drive in the possession of (another inmate).”

In fact, a forensic analysis of the computers showed they’d been used to search the department of corrections system and access private inmate information including disciplinary records; apply for five credit cards in the name of an inmate at Mansfield Correctional Institution; access articles on tax refund fraud; issue passes for inmates to gain access to multiple areas of the prison, in addition to texts found between Johnston and his mother.

There were also numerous hacking tools found on the computers’ hard drives.

“Additionally, articles about making home-made drugs, plastics, explosives and credit cards were discovered,” the report says.

Johnston told investigators he looked over the shoulder of a former MCI employee-turned RET3 contractor to learn the password to access the prison database. There, he selected Kyle Patrick, a young inmate with a lengthy sentence, and bypassed security measures to obtain Patrick’s birth date and Social Security number.

He applied for five credit and debit cards in Patrick’s name and used the mailing address of his mother’s neighbor.

Only one application was approved, and investigators found that debit card in Patrick’s name when they raided the home of Johnston’s mother, Karen Galienne, in November of 2015. Patrick said he’s never met Johnston.

“Galienne admitted to investigators that she had provided the address ... to her son, inmate Johnston, through a text message,” the report stated. When the debit card arrived, she read the number and other information to her son over the phone so that he could activate it.

Johnston told investigators the plan was to file false tax returns and to have the money funneled to the debit card.

His mother denied knowing what Johnston was doing with the debit card. “He won’t tell me anything because he doesn’t want me to get in trouble,” she told investigators, according to the OIG report.

The report’s findings conclude that the prison failed to adequately supervise inmates, protect information technology resources, and follow password security policy among other infractions. The findings were forwarded to the Marion County Prosecutor’s Office and the Ohio Ethics Commission for consideration of further action.

“Investigators determined that inmates Spriggs and Johnston were unsupervised for extensive periods of time,” the report states.

Johnston is now incarcerated at the Lebanon Correctional Institution in Warren County.