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Officials: Teen who wanted to be cop hacked into police computer system

“I want to pull people over and go on bank robberies,” the 19-year-old told police

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Pictured is Jared Joslin. (Photo/LCSO)

By Kaitlyn Alanis
The Wichita Eagle

LOGAN COUNTY, Okla. — Jared Joslin “really wanted to be in law enforcement,” the Logan County, Oklahoma, Sheriff told KFOR.

“I want to pull people over and go on bank robberies,” the 19-year-old told police, according to News9.

But he went about it all wrong, KOCO reported — and got himself arrested by the cops he wanted to be like.

Joslin is accused of stealing “several” police radios, hand-held devices, a deputy jacket and other “police-related items” from the Logan County Sheriff’s Office within the last year, KOCO reported.

He was able to steal one of the radios by smashing a deputy’s car window, KFOR reported.

“He has an obsession with law enforcement and what we do and once they get to that point of stealing equipment and the things that he had, it’s kind of concerning,” Logan County Sheriff Damon Devereaux told News9.

Once the Guthrie, Oklahoma, man stole the radios, he used his cellphone and laptop to send an email to the Department of Public Safety, according to an arrest affidavit obtained by KOCO. In the email, he pretended to be the Guthrie fire chief and requested that the stolen radios be activated.

It worked.

He got access into the city’s GeoSafe system, investigators told News9, and was able to view “officer location information and other sensitive content.”

“This particular breach was disturbing to us,” Sgt. Gibbs told the TV station in a video interview. “It seemed, not easy, but possible for somebody to gain access to this system.”

In a statement to News9, GeoSafe said the support staff member who responded to Joslin’s email “did not follow our standard protocol to verify the authenticity of the password reset request.”

“This allowed the person to gain access to the account,” the statement said. “Once we became aware of the breach, we immediately locked out the account and notified the Guthrie Fire Department. The breach only affected their agency and not any other agencies.”

Police then went to serve an arrest warrant at Joslin’s home on Sept. 7, KOCO reported.

When police arrived, they heard a loud emergency service radio coming from a cabinet, the station reported. The radio was hooked up to a large speaker.

“It’s scary,” Deveraux told KFOR.

Joslin was arrested on suspicion of violating the Oklahoma Computer Crimes Act, concealing stolen property and using a radio to commit a felony, KFOR reported.

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