High school junior arrested and suspended

Marisa O’Neil

Police arrested a boy at his high school Monday in connection with

the high-tech hacking of its computers to change grades.

A 17-year-old junior was taken into custody at 11:30 a.m. Monday at Corona del Mar High School, Newport Beach Police Sgt. Steve

Shulman said. The boy was later released into his parents’ custody.

Police also searched the boy’s home for evidence, Shulman said.

The district contacted police last Monday when they discovered

that the grades of seven students had been changed in the school’s

computer system. All had been revised upwards.

The boy arrested was also placed on a five-day suspension,

district spokeswoman Jane Garland said. District and school officials

will reassess the situation as the police investigation continues.

More arrests may come in the case, Shulman said. The boy faces

felony charges and it will be up to the district attorney’s office

whether to charge him as an adult.

Because each school site has its own system, Garland said,

district officials are confident the hacking was confined to one

school. Other students’ grades have been checked to make sure no

others were changed.

That school’s server was swapped out, she said, and holes were

plugged to prevent further problems.

Whoever accessed the system also deleted nearly 1,200 files with personal information on students, but those were recovered.