Kentucky Man Sentenced for Conspiracy to Intrude Protected Computer System of Competitor Business

MOBILE, AL – A Lexington, Kentucky man was sentenced today to two years of probation for conspiring to intrude into a competitor business’s protected computer system to steal information for his commercial advantage and financial gain.
According to court documents, Daniel Bruck LaCour, 33, operated a printing-services business called LaCour Printing Solutions, LLC (“LPS”) in Dothan, Alabama, from at least March 2016 to April 2017. One of LPS’s competitors was a printing-services company based in New York and Tennessee. The competitor printing company maintained a password-protected system of computers that contained its protected client account information.

In March 2016, LaCour recruited a former employee of the competing printing company to work for him at LPS. On March 28, 2016, the former employee sent LaCour a set of login credentials to access the competing company’s protected computer system without the company’s consent, authorization, or knowledge. Those login credentials included the email address and password of a legitimate employee of the competing company whose account had elevated privileges that allowed it to access customer account profiles, including sensitive pricing information.

Over a year-long period, LaCour repeatedly used the stolen credentials from a computer at his house in Dothan to intrude into the competing company’s computer system. LaCour fraudulently accessed more than 30 customer accounts before the company cut off his access to the system after discovering his intrusion on April 4, 2017. During the period of the intrusion, the competing printing company lost business to LPS from numerous existing and potential clients due to LaCour’s unauthorized use of the other company’s sensitive pricing information.

Skype messages extracted from LaCour’s computer revealed how he obtained the login credentials and used them to steal the company’s information for LPS’s benefit. In one such message, LaCour stated, “I am trying to destroy [the victim company] . . . that’s my life long goal.”

Chief United States District Judge Emily C. Marks of the United States District Court for the Middle District of Alabama ordered LaCour to pay a $3,500 fine and to undergo mental health treatment while on probation, during which time he will be subject to credit restrictions. The court also ordered LaCour to pay $40,000 in victim restitution to the competing company and $100 in special assessments.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation investigated the case.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Justin Roller prosecuted the case on behalf of the United States.