Ex-security technician pleads guilty to hacking North Texas homes to view naked women
A former home security technician pleaded guilty on Thursday to a federal charge of hacking home security footage, mostly in Tarrant and Dallas counties, according to federal officials
The technician, who is a former employee with ADT Security Services, took note of homes where attractive women lived, then repeatedly logged into their accounts to view their video footage for sexual gratification, authorities said.
For more than four years, Telesforo Aviles, the former ADT employee, secretly accessed 200 customer accounts more than 9,600 times without them knowing it, federal officials said.
Aviles, 35, pleaded guilty to the charge of computer fraud, and he faces a maximum of five years in federal prison.
“This defendant, entrusted with safeguarding customers’ homes, instead intruded on their most intimate moments,” said Acting U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas Prerak Shah in a Thursday news release. “We are glad to hold him accountable for this disgusting betrayal of trust.”
Aviles admitted that contrary to company policy, he routinely added his personal email address to customers’ “ADT Pulse” accounts, giving him real-time access to the video feeds from their homes. In some instances, he claimed he needed to add himself temporarily to “test” the system, according to federal court documents.
Aviles watched videos that depicted naked women and couples engaging in sexual activity inside of their own homes, without the customers’ knowledge.
He began working for the company in 2003, and as part of his duties, he would install and conduct adjustments to security systems installed in customers’ homes.
According to court documents, ADT utilizes a customer application called “ADT Pulse” that allows the customer to access their home security system to view both internal and external security cameras linked to the application. When conducting an initial installation, a technician is permitted to add their ADT employee email account to the application for access to the system. Once installed, technicians are required to remove their access to the customer’s system.
Starting in November 2015, Aviles began accessing the video footage of the cameras installed at customers’ homes.
Federal authorities said Aviles would remember women he found attractive and access their cameras later in the day. He watched videos of women without any clothes on or couples engaging in sex.
Court records showed that Aviles installed about five cameras in 2015 at a home in North Texas where a customer lived with five children. He logged in and accessed that customer’s account 361 times.
In April 2016, Aviles installed cameras at another home and accessed that system 322 times.
Federal authorities in court documents noted three other cases where Aviles installed cameras and later accessed the systems.
Aviles admitted to accessing accounts from November 2015 until March 2020.
This story was originally published January 21, 2021 at 12:45 PM.
