Gaming, computers, da, dallas, district attorney, gaming rig, pcs

DA on Trial For Building Kick Ass Gaming Rig With State Funds

A Rockwall County, Dallas district attorney named Ray Sumrow is being tried on charges of forgery, theft and records tampering relating to a computer he built as a backup server for his office. You see, this "backup server" he bought with state money was equipped with two hard drives, seven fans, high-end video and audio cards, WiFi and cables that glow under ultraviolet light (what, no flames paint job?).

The FBI also found incriminating evidence in the form of eBay transactions, emails, and a cheat sheet for a PC game. Although he has not been convicted of the crime yet—things look bleak for Mr Sumrow. Sure, he is an idiot—but you can understand where he is coming from. [Dallas News]

5:30 PM on Fri Mar 14 2008
By Sean Fallon
11,635 views
42 comments

Comments

everestek at 05:39 PM on 03/14/08
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now that's what I call beaurocracy at its best...
kaneshadow at 05:40 PM on 03/14/08
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so... what did it cost, $2000? $3000? Definitely illegal but I'd call it a minor misappropriation.

Hell, if he was backing up files onto it anyway, I'd say it's legal. Unless there's a law banning l33tness from a backup server.
jcrockerman at 05:43 PM on 03/14/08
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hahaha.....he just wanted to get his game on!!!!
snakepliskin at 05:45 PM on 03/14/08
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I think we should all salute this man as an american hero. National anthem anyone?
Mayor McRib at 05:46 PM on 03/14/08
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pwned
rgmcewen at 05:46 PM on 03/14/08
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When I worked at a DA's office, all they had were crappy 500 MHZ computers (and this was a year ago!) I think I should move to Dallas.
AlphaUltima at 05:46 PM on 03/14/08
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Penny Arcade has already jabbed at it.
[www.penny-arcade.com]
lilaliendog at 05:47 PM on 03/14/08
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so did he build it or was this a custom alienware purchased computer?
theimmc at 05:47 PM on 03/14/08
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Odds are, he managed to piss off someone either rich or powerful as district attorney.
utube2007 at 05:49 PM on 03/14/08
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Shouldn't have been an idiot don't buy nothing with state funds.

Should have spent his own money, what would a DA have needed with that computer for the job of a DA.
92BuickLeSabre at 05:49 PM on 03/14/08
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Connectedness Index: 558
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Ironically, he was using it to hook up with Ashley Alexandra Dupré in Second Life.
clondike7 at 05:49 PM on 03/14/08
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@kaneshadow: I'm pretty sure that if all he did was misappropriate $2000-3000 it wouldn't be a big deal, since politicians are capable of huge corruption. They could have more evidence of more serious crimes that they haven't released.

And anyways, for the same amount of money, they could've gotten 4+TB of storage and called it a real backup server.
Ednonymous at 05:51 PM on 03/14/08
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The sad part is that he probably spent less money than the state would have for a plain jane server.
Matt Schlicht at 05:52 PM on 03/14/08
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Maybe...it was some top secret government thing.
92BuickLeSabre at 05:56 PM on 03/14/08
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@All the comments: Okay, minus my obvious reference, this is now exactly the geek version of a Spitzer thread over on Wonkette - even down to the question of whether this is really a "3 Diamond" gaming set up.

The parallels are freaking me out!
rgshredder at 06:03 PM on 03/14/08
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I knew lawyers tend to cheat their clients, wives/husbands, friends, co-workers, the government, tax payers but to cheat on a PC game...I just don't know what to think anymore...
mcsurfer3393 at 06:07 PM on 03/14/08
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Even if it cost $2 or $3k, if he used it as a backup server then the only misappropriation would be for the video and audio cards. Even then, only part of the cost of those would be misappropriated because a normal computer needs those, albeit cheaper ones.

Any lawyers in the hizzy?

p.s. hire him, Giz!! :P
habib15 at 06:10 PM on 03/14/08
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@clondike7 The funny thing is if he would of went for 4 TB and skipped the ultraviolet cords and stuck it in a plain Jane case nobody would have been the wiser.
Sheemo44 at 06:15 PM on 03/14/08
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was he playing doom?
Roopy at 06:20 PM on 03/14/08
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maybe he was playing the law and order games...those were pretty tough for me...but i mean...he's a lawyer so he should have no problem right? WRONG!
s0crates82 at 06:40 PM on 03/14/08
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@Roopy: OBJECTION!
chrisaroz at 07:22 PM on 03/14/08
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Let's be realistic... any cable will glow under ultraviolet light, they should take that off the list. Other than that, sounds like a pretty basic server to me.
newfiend at 07:38 PM on 03/14/08
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Well, i guess if your going to spend State Funds on something i guess this is better than blowing it on hookers like the NY State Gov.... the only down side is Playboy and Penthouse won't want to take pictures of his PC....LOL
strobefx at 08:05 PM on 03/14/08
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Perhaps he was covering a class action lawsuit against Crytek for making Crysis impossible to play at a smooth frame rate.

I mean, he'd have to test it. Right folks?

Right?
jdat at 08:47 PM on 03/14/08
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yeah I live in Rockwall, [*sigh*] this guy has been under fire for things like this for two years now and still hasn't been indicted. Makes us seem relavent I guess.
x23 at 09:11 PM on 03/14/08
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@newfiend: Spitzer used "State Funds" on prostitutes? really? i haven't seen that mentioned anywhere. care to link a source?
Le0nidas at 09:12 PM on 03/14/08
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@strobefx: Case. Closed.
whoareyou at 10:06 PM on 03/14/08
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No wonder my city can't increase the size of their server hard drives beyond 133 GB.
newfiend at 10:14 PM on 03/14/08
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sure check this out...
[www.guardian.co.uk]

Prosecutors are homing in on the disgraced former New York state governor Eliot Spitzer, by investigating whether he used money raised for political campaigns to pay for travel and other expenses relating to his meetings with prostitutes.
Bokusatsu_Tenshi at 11:10 PM on 03/14/08
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Well, at least they caught the guy... if some brazilian politic bought a gaming rig to... make excel sheets, if someone actually caught him (impossible), it would result in nothing...
Or maybe, it would result in lots of other politics making the same thing.

Impunity is the standard for corruption in Brazil.
Roflcopter_Down: Wants... at 12:08 AM on 03/15/08
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A CHEAT SHEET FOR A PC GAME? THE BASTARD! Undeniable proof.
CorrieLuvr at 02:09 AM on 03/15/08
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WTF!! Have invesitagors run out of real CRIMINALS to chase after??? Is America a truly communist like police state??? Hmmmm........ We all know the answer.
Red Right Hand at 03:51 AM on 03/15/08
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get a rope
badweasel at 06:45 AM on 03/15/08
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I'd be so busted if I worked for the government.
iFlingPoo at 08:04 AM on 03/15/08
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burn the witch :P
SneakerFiend at 12:36 PM on 03/15/08
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@kaneshadow: Now you said 2 thousand and 3 thousand.
From the looks of those prices you really arent a customized gaming computer type guy.
He didnt build it himself and if he did then dam props to him for making his server.
I would've been the cop to say i have to confiscate this computer to run tests to see if he had any illegal porn or programs on it. By the looks of it he looks like the type of guy to have tons of illegal programs and dont forget the cracked OS.
Taken the computer home and gotten some serious gaming in for a week.
celloids at 03:17 PM on 03/15/08
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If I am a DA and take a toothpick from the office and give it to my kid to pick his/her teeth, I too will get punished for corruption right? Or maybe take a piece of tissue paper and use it to wipe my wife's face at home, then it is corruption too right? hauhauhauhauhuahuahuahuahuahuhauahuahua LOL
jamesuschrist at 04:21 PM on 03/15/08
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Mmk, I can understand how useless high end graphic cards are in file servers, but consider:

2 hard drives: this is a bare minimum for any server.
Excessive cooling: yup, any server.
WiFi: Necessary if the hard wired network sucks.
Glowing Cables: Is it me or is it harder to find non-glowing aftermarket cables?

And if that computer's motherboard doesn't have onboard video, the video card can be slightly justified.

Unless this machine cost more than $1500 I would say that the charges are pretty bogus... Especially if the guy took his own time to build rather than buy a solution.
britneyspearstears at 09:31 PM on 03/15/08
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@kaneshadow: Nailed it!
Daniel at 11:53 PM on 03/16/08
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I salute this guy for having the guts to build a gaming rig with government money. I don't mind either. Have you seen budgets lately? Billions of dollars in debt... $3k isn't really going to matter.

Suck that he cheats though.

Daniel
riqgeez at 12:22 PM on 03/17/08
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I guess the Verdict is in . . . Guilty ofall motherboard chagres.
x23 at 08:27 PM on 03/17/08
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@newfiend:
Prosecutors are homing in on the disgraced former New York state governor Eliot Spitzer, by investigating whether he used money raised for political campaigns to pay for travel and other expenses relating to his meetings with prostitutes.

most of that "news" story was about some lame song a hooker made.

then there was the brief sentence you quoted. "money raised for political campaigns" is completely synonymous with "state funds"... really?