HARRISBURG — Attorney General Bruce R. Beemer today announced the arrest of a Dauphin County man charged with violating the Commonwealth’s Wiretapping and Electronic Surveillance Act by illegally accessing his estranged wife’s private electronic communications.
David Randall Maurer, 36, was charged following an investigation by the Office of Attorney General’s Bureau of Criminal Investigations.
According to a criminal complaint filed in support of the charges, Maurer, an employee of the Dauphin County information technology department, installed spyware monitoring software on a laptop being used by his estranged wife.
The software captured key strokes, screenshots and websites the woman visited, allowing Maurer to allegedly obtain passwords and log into his estranged wife’s private email and Facebook accounts. He accessed these accounts to view private chats and emails, investigators stated in the criminal complaint.
Investigators further alleged that Maurer provided the illegally captured screenshots to a court-ordered custody evaluator assigned to the case of Maurer and his estranged wife.
The Attorney General’s Computer Forensics Unit performed an analysis on the laptop involved in this investigation. That analysis confirmed Maurer’s use of the spyware program and the fact that he accessed his employer’s wireless network in the course of illegally accessing his estranged wife’s private communications, investigators allege.
Maurer, of the 300 block of Oak Street, Susquehanna Township, is charged with three counts of illegal interception, disclosure or use of wire, electronic or oral communications, one separate count of illegal interception, disclosure or use of wire, electronic or oral communications and one count of unlawful access to stored communications.
Maurer’s bail was set at $20,000 unsecured following a preliminary arraignment today. A preliminary hearing is tentatively scheduled for Dec. 15.
This Office of Attorney General investigation was the result of a referral from the Dauphin County District Attorney’s office.
This case will be prosecuted by Deputy Attorney General Michele Kluk of the Attorney General’s Criminal Prosecutions Section.
Source: Attorney General’s Press Office
