Judge Orders "Cracker" To Finish School

                                by William Polk

                              The San Diego Union

                                  November, 1985


     William Landreth, the Poway teenager known among computer enthusiasts as
"The Cracker," has been ordered by a federal judge to complete high school as
part of a probation sentence.
     Landreth, 19, yesterday was placed on three yaer's probation under the
federal Youth Corrections Act for his earlier guilty plea to felony wire fraud.
     Landreth, who just completed 45 days of psychological testing and
evaluation under a court order, admitted gaining access to the computer system
of the GTE Telemail network in Vienna, Va. Employees of corporate clients
subscribing to the system use it to leave electronic messages.
     When he pleaded guilty in July, Landreth admitted he gained access to the
system in July 1983, and used the computer bulletin board without paying a
subscriber's fee.
     The FBI found out about Landreth's activities in October 1983 when it
seized computers in the homes of four Irvine teen-agers they believed were
engaged in similar computer-cracking actions.
     U.S. District Judge Rudi Brewster said he agreed with the results of
psychological tests and a probation report that described Landreth as "a
bright young man with a lot of potential," who had no malicious intent when he
cracked the GTE computer network.
     The probation conditions included payment of $87 to the GTE Corp. for
unauthorized use of its computer system, completion of high school and 200
hours of charitable community service work.
     Afterward, Landreth said he plans to finish high school, and enroll at the
University of California at San Diego.

     His major?

     "Computer science," he said.