Fugitive Hacker-Informant Caught

L O S   A N G E L E S,   Jan. 5 -- “Agent Steal,” a computer hacker-turned-government informant who claimed to have helped put superhacker Kevin Mitnick behind bars, is back in custody after being on the run for several weeks.

Justin Petersen, 38, was accused of leaving a halfway house and could get up to two years in prison. He was captured without incident Dec. 11 in Los Angeles.

Petersen, a native of Lincoln, Neb., pleaded guilty in 1993 to federal computer crimes.

He admitted stealing data from a credit information firm, hacking into a financial services business to pay himself $150,000 and helping rig a radio call-in contest by seizing control of telephone lines.

‘Undercover’ Help

He got nearly 3½ years in prison and three years of supervised release. But his sentence was delayed while he helped the government in an “undercover capacity,” as one court document put it.

Petersen claimed the FBI paid his rent and flew him to computer conferences to spy on other hackers. He also said he helped show that Mitnick, the only hacker to make the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted list, was committing offenses while on probation for computer crimes.

Mitnick was arrested in 1995, accused of stealing 20,000 credit card numbers. He faces trial in Los Angeles on April 20.

Petersen was completing his sentence in halfway house in the Los Angeles area when he went on the run.

His lawyer, Nathan Hochman, said his client “hasn’t admitted or denied the allegations yet.”