Hacktivist gets seven years
Matt DeHart, the former U. S. airman and Anonymous hacktivist who made a failed asylum bid in Canada — claiming torture over his access to secret U. S. government documents — has been sentenced to 7 ½ years in prison for possessing sexually explicit photos of two underaged teenagers and avoiding court by fleeing across the border.
The sentence passed Monday in Nashville, Tenn., by District Judge Aleta Trauger brings a judicial close to a bizarre story involving Anonymous hackers, WikiLeaks whistleblowers, Russian spies, military secrets and a dossier purporting to contain highly inflammatory U. S. intelligence secrets.
DeHart was granted credit for his three years of pre-trial custody in the United States, leaving 4½ years remaining to be served. It is expected his lawyers will argue to have time he spent incarcerated in Canada taken into account in a bid to further reduce his remaining sentence.
The man has claimed wrongful prosecution, accusing the U. S. government of using child pornography as a ruse to probe his activist activities.
However, under a plea agreement, DeHart pleaded guilty to two counts of receiving child pornography and one count of failing to appear in court, when he fled to Canada.
“In light of the disappearance of nearly all exculpatory evidence in my case, including the Kangaroo Defender Elite encrypted thumb drive I brought with me to Canada, as well as the seizure or deletion of numerous email and social media accounts, my defence was completely emasculated,” DeHart, 30, said in a statement to the National Post.
“The same criminal complaint for which the Canadian (refugee board) found no credible evidence was effectively unchallenged here. I strongly appreciate all those who stand by me and my family.”
His plea acknowledges in 2006- 07, DeHart, then aged 21, met two boys online, then aged 14 and 16, while playing World of Warcraft, an Internet role-playing game.
He pretended to be the 17- year- old son of a Mafia boss and two teenaged girls. He encouraged the boys to take sexually explicit photos and video of themselves and email them to the purported girls.
“A forensic analysis of the computers and electronic media seized from DeHart revealed at least seven sexually explicit images” of one of the boys, the plea says.
It adds DeHart also asked for a “dick pic” from the second boy, who was asking if DeHart could get him a laptop for his birthday. He sent one such photo, but then sent penis photos he found on the Internet instead.
The plea further acknowledges DeHart fled to Canada while released on bond, pending trial for the porn charges, where he sought asylum. The Immigration and Refugee Board rejected his bid, he was jailed in Canada and turned over to U. S. authorities in March 2015.
The plea deal asked the judge to impose a sentence of 90 months of incarceration: 72 months for the porn, 18 months for fleeing.
DeHart is a former member of the U. S. Air National Guard, training in the secretive drone program while he was involved in Anonymous, the global hacktivist group.
He ran a dark web Internet server used to leak a classified U. S. government document, likely destined to WikiLeaks, he said.
WikiLeaks refers to DeHart as an “al l e ged WikiLeaks middleman” and supports his case through the Courage Foundation.
His strange case was revealed in a long investigation by the National Post in 2014.
His parents Paul and Leann DeHart were in court Monday to support their son.
“We are relieved to have closure,” Paul DeHart told the Post. “We pray for Matt’s continuing protection. We are thankful for friends, family, and so many in the public who follow our case to keep those in power honest.”