14 DAY TRIAL // Deric Lostutter, 29, of Winchester, Kentucky, pleaded not guilty this week after being indicted in July on four felony counts, including a count of lying to the FBI.
Lostutter is the Anonymous member who exposed the infamous Steubenville High School rape case, when members of the local high school football team publicly and repeatedly sexually assaulted an underage girl, recording the events and later posting some of the images and videos online.
Going by the name of KYAnonymous, and together with a co-conspirator, Noah McHugh, a.k.a. JustBatCat, of Alexandria, Virginia, Lostutter hacked into the website of Steubenville High School, searching for the identities of the high schoolers he saw in the online videos.
Lostutter and McHugh formed KnightSec
The two, hacking under the name of KnightSec, found videos stored on the some parts of the high school's website, recorded by students on the night of the event.
The two leaked these additional videos online, along with accusations against the local government, law enforcement, and the high school’s administration for orchestrating a cover-up to protect the members of the football team. Lostutter and McHugh also defaced the high school's website.
Their video exposed the covered-up case and got the two hackers international fame, later appearing in several high-profile news and media publications, such as the Rolling Stones and CNN.
McHugh has already pleaded guilty
The FBI eventually tracked down both hackers and pressed charges in subsequent years. Two Steubenville football players were tried and found guilty. One student was sentenced to one year in jail while the other received a two-year sentence.
Lostutter faces up to 16 years in prison for his crimes, five years for three hacking counts, and another year for lying to the FBI. His partner, JustBatCat, pleaded guilty to the same crimes a few days before Lostutter.
For the past few years, Lostutter has been constantly raising money to cover his legal fees. Below is the video KnightSec published regarding the Steubenville incident.
