Christopher Chaney, a 35-year-old Florida perv, was the man been arrested in Operation Hackerazzi, the alleged widespread celebrity cellphone hacking scandal.
His actions recently resulted in pics of Scarlett Johansson nude ending up on the Internet, shining new light on a federal investigation already underway.
Chaney was arrested on Wednesday and charged with 26 counts of computer hacking, aggravated identity theft and wiretapping. Maximum penalty? 121 YEARS. Officials say Chaney hacked into personal e-mail accounts of dozens of people in the entertainment industry, such as Johannson, Christina Aguilera and Mila Kunis.
"This [arrest] comes as a relief to the victims, many of whom suffered great distress," said Steven Martinez, assistant director in charge of the FBI's L.A. field office.
Chaney allegedly obtained victims' passwords and set their e-mail accounts to forward to him, even in the event the users reset their passwords, the charges state.
This allegedly gave him access to myriad financial information, movie scripts, celebrity photos and private e-mails, as well as to contact lists to find other victims.
In fact, the 35-year-old perv says he's almost relieved.
In a new interview, Chaney says he became "addicted" to the behind-the-scenes lives of the stars and when authorities seized his computer, he felt saved.
"It started as a curiosity," he told a local news station in Jacksonville, Fla. "It happened and snowballed. ... I just didn't know how to stop doing it."
"I deeply apologize," he says.
"That was probably the worst invasion of privacy someone could experience. They don't have privacy to begin with, and I was in the tiny little sliver they have."
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