Former Kelly Walsh High School Student Admits To Crashing Computers
A Casper teen who had transferred from Colorado, has admitted to installing a USB drive onto school computers, causing them to no longer work.
Eighteen year old Cooper Humphreys has pleaded guilty to one felony and one misdemeanor charge of property destruction.
Investigators with the Casper Police Department say in November 2016, one of the teachers at Kelly Walsh High School was notified by a student that Humphreys had a USB drive with the Kill 2.0 program on it.
The program is designed to serve as a kill switch, if the computer on which it is installed, should fall under the control of individuals or entities, that the owner or operator does not wish it to.
It was later determined that there were several computers in the school that were irreparably damaged.
Several other students told investigators that Humphreys bragged about what he did, and he even showed several students a video of him using the USB drive on a computer, at the Pathways Innovation Center.
He told one student he was doing it, because the school was invading his privacy, but he did not elaborate as to how.
At his expulsion hearing, Humphreys admitted to what he did.
When interviewed by investigators, Humphreys said he noticed some computers were breaking down at the PIC, because of another student using USB Kill.
He then purchased a USB drive with the Kill program on it, and decided he was going to continue the trend.
It was later determined that more than one dozen computers at Kelly Walsh HS and the PIC were damaged, costing an estimated $9,300 plus.
As part of a plea deal, Natrona County Prosecutors will seek first time offenders status on the felony charge, which means if Humphreys completes a term of probation and pays restitution (both to be determined later), the guilty conviction will be cleared from his criminal record.
As for the misdemeanor charge, prosecutors will seek no more than a 10 day jail sentence.
Humphreys is free on a $2,000 personal recognizance bond, and will be sentenced at a later date.
He was 17 at the time the crimes were committed, but prosecutors charged him as an adult.