In the span of 5 months, Richard Wolf spent approximately 100 work hours using his work computer for personal use, which included looking at—and uploading—nude photos, none of which were actually of people engaging in sexual acts. His superiors said during that time, Wolf's job performance never suffered and he always managed to complete all of his duties on time. However, after it was discovered that Wolf was accessing inappropriate content at work, he was investigated by the police and later charged for hacking his work computer.

The current Ohio hacking law states that "No person, in any manner and by any means, including, but not limited to, computer hacking, shall knowingly gain access ... to any computer ... without the consent of, or beyond the scope of the express or implied consent of, the owner of the computer ... or other person authorized to give consent." Although he was given consent to use the computer, the court believes that Wolf's personal activities constituted as "beyond the scope of the express or implied consent," thus being able to prosecute him with a hacking conviction.

Wolf's lawyer pointed out that a major reason why Wolf's situation was handled so severely was because of the content he was looking at his computer. If Wolf had been looking at videos of cats riding on Roombas, for instance, he would not be in the predicament he is in now. However, due to the sexual nature of the content, the court is treating it somewhat like they would a sex offense. As of now, Wolf has been sentenced to 15 months in jail and has been fined $5,000 among other restitutions. [Wired]

Consumerist reader, Dan, was at a local WaMu ATM getting cash when he realized something didn't feel quite right. After examining the money machine, he realized there was a card skimmer in the slot. Immediately, he ripped it off—which was probably quite easy seeing that it looks to be held together by masking tape—and took pictures of it before contacting Washing Mutual and the authorities. Surprisingly, the police admitted that this was the first time they had ever seen a card skimmer before. One mystery down, and so many more to go. What's next? I'm banking on exotic, hungry, and extremely poisonous spiders hiding in your toilet. [Consumerist via BBG]

Stefano Arrighetti, 45, the engineer in charge for programming the T-Redspeed system which is used throughout Italy, is being accused of rigging traffic lights to have shorter yellow lights, causing more motorists to inadvertently speed through red lights. Because the system uses three strategically placed cameras around the intersection, the T-Redspeed system was able to capture exact 3D placement of where the motorists' cars were the moment it illegally crosses through the intersection, instantly fining them with a €150 ticket.

The police uncovered this conspiracy after they noticed that the numbers of traffic-light violations had dramatically increased too much—1,439 for the last two months—in such a short period of time. After a little more digging, they found that 300 municipalities and other companies around Italy allegedly have been splitting the revenues amongst themselves made by these wrongfully issued tickets.

According to his lawyers, Arrighetti retains his innocence and is a "genius whom the world envies." He is currently under house arrest as this investigation is still pending. [Ars Technica]

Alvarez's girlfriend, Christina Alvarado, had apparently woken him up after she had discovered her Girl Scout Cookies had gone missing. An angry—and very sleepy—Alvarez began verbally and physically attacking her until they ended up in the living room, where Alvarez pinned her down and proceeded to strangle her with the cord of a Wii controller. When his girlfriend was able to break free and call 911, Alvarez fled the scene but was quickly found and arrested soon after.

Alvarez has been charged with aggravated assault and is currently being held in a Travis County jail, with bail set at $40,000. If charged, Alvarez could be facing up to 20 years in prison.

Lessons learned? Girls: Don't bug your boyfriends when they're sleeping. Boys: Don't eat your girlfriend's cookies! Err, or at least don't strangle her after you've eaten them. [Kotaku]

The loophole involved the tiny payments that online payment services and brokerages send to new user accounts to verify that they're real. While getting four cents from PayPal might not seem like a big deal to you, Michael Largent decided to create a script to automatically open 58,000 of these accounts. Unfortunately for him, the companies caught on to his scheme and he's currently out on bail on charges of wire, bank and mail fraud.

The funny thing is, he's not in trouble for taking the money. It was being given out freely, after all. He's in trouble for using fake names and social security numbers to open the accounts.

If only Milton would go burn down the Googleplex in retaliation for Sergey Brin taking his stapler, destroying the evidence of your crime, you could escape these charges! [PC Pro via Slashdot]