They were caught after showing the files to an acquaintance of the victim

Nov 5, 2012 09:22 GMT  ·  By
Verizon shop employees accused of stealing adult pictures from woman's phone
   Verizon shop employees accused of stealing adult pictures from woman's phone

A couple of employees of a Verizon Wireless store in Florida have been charged after they stole some adult pictures from the mobile phone of a female customer.

Security experts have often advised users to be extra cautious when handing over their computers or their smartphones for repairs since many technicians are in the habit of copying all the sensitive information they can find on the devices.

Apparently, the victim of this story, who works as a waitress near the Verizon shop in questions, didn’t consider those all-important pieces of advice when she wanted to replace her damaged phone.

One of the Verizon staffers, 24-year-old Joshua Stuart, copied around 20 photos from the woman’s phone while assisting her with the transfer of data from the old device to the new one. He later gave the files to another employee, 26-year-old Gregory Lampert.

According to The Smoking Gun, which obtained the arrest report, the thieves showed the pictures to an acquaintance of the victim who visited the store for a device upgrade.

He didn’t tell them that he recognized the woman, but he immediately notified the victim who alerted authorities.

The police seized Lampert’s laptop and a couple of mobile phones. The adult pictures of the victim were found on the devices.

The suspect admitted to having received the pictures from Stuart. He also confessed to stealing similar files from another customer’s device.

Lampert has already been arrested and charged with offenses against computer users and dealing in stolen property. Stuart has been out of state, but he will also be arrested once he returns.

In this case, the employees of a big company are involved, but such incidents can occur with any firm that offers repair or maintenance services, be it large or small. That’s why it’s always recommended to deploy some safety mechanisms before taking your device in for repairs.