A Monroe County man faces charges that he hijacked a neighbor’s Internet service to download child porn.
Authorities charged Robert Gleisner, of Mount Pocono, with child sex abuse offenses after discovering he allegedly used a file sharing system to download child pornography. The 51-year-old also faces charges that he used someone else’s wireless router to download the pictures.
Authorities also charged Constance Malago with illegally using the neighbor’s Internet signal. There is currently no evidence the 49-year-old knew about the child pornography, but an investigation continues, pending a forensic examination of the computers seized from her Coolbaugh Township home, according to a news release.
Gleisner was sent to the Monroe County Correctional Facility on $50,000 bail for the stolen Internet charges, and he’s awaiting arraignment on the child pornography charges. Malago was released on $10,000 bail.
Police arrested Gleisner and Malago Thursday.
A detective with the Monroe County District Attorney’s Office in February was investigating the identity of someone who may have downloaded nearly 600 images of child pornography, according to court records. Authorities on April 7 tracked the images to a home in Coolbaugh Township, where they searched several electronic devices, records indicate.
Authorities found no child pornography, but discovered the home owner was using an unsecured wireless network, according to records. That allowed a neighbor across the street to illegally connect to the Internet service for about six months, records indicate.
During the investigation, county detectives and members of the Pocono Mountain Regional Police Department found Gleisner and Malago used wireless network antennas to boost their connection to the neighbor’s network, according to court records. Another neighbor provided police with a text message from Malago, lamenting that her neighbor across the street must have secured her network, according to authorities.
Malago texted “…there goes my free internet! They musta found out,” according to court records.
Gleisner allegedly admitted to detectives that he had downloaded the file-sharing software and child pornography on his cell phone.
Det. Brian Webbe, the district attorney’s cybercrime investigator, said the case is a prime example of why people need to secure their home wireless networks with a password.
“An unsecure wifi connection … is an open invitation for others to essentially steal a service that you’re paying for,” Webbe said in a news release. “At best, it’s just an inconvenience because it can slow your own connection to your router; at worst, you have a case like this where the thief is using your Internet connection to commit a serious crime.”
Unfortunately, as happened in this case, when someone is using your Internet connection to commit a crime, the police are going to come knocking on your door, thinking that you’re the one responsible,” he said.