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His Password is "Guilty": San Francisco Computer Engineer Locked Co-Workers Out of City's Network

(CBS)

SAN FRANCISCO (CBS/AP) Former San Francisco computer engineer Terry Childs has been convicted of locking other city officials out of the city's network for 12 days.

A jury found the 45-year-old guilty Tuesday of one felony count of denying or disrupting computer services to an authorized user.  The charge stemmed from a 12-day period in July 2008 when Childs changed the passwords to the system and refused to divulge them to anyone.

He ultimately gave them to Mayor Gavin Newsom during a jailhouse visit.

The San Francisco Chronicle reported on its website SFGate that Childs' lawyers argued their client was a security-obsessed engineer who felt he was just doing his job.

Childs, who has been jailed since his arrest, is scheduled to be sentenced on June 14. He faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison.

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