A former Biola student was convicted Friday of illegally installing spyware on six women’s computers without their knowledge in order to view various images of the women for sexual gratification, according to the Orange County district attorney’s office.
Trevor Harwell, 21, attended Biola from June 2009 to October 2010, where he was a computer science major and president of Networx, a computer club.
At the same time, the Fullerton local worked for Rezitech Inc., a computer repair company located in North Orange County and worked on Apple computers.
He met the six victims through friends and church, according to a press release from the Orange County district attorney’s office. He installed a program called CamCapture and set it to record when a victim was using her computer. The program recorded both live and still images of the women in various states of undress, according to the district attorney’s office.
The Fullerton Police Department identified a total of six victims after two victims — who were sisters — notified the police, the district attorney’s office said.
The images of women were often captured when victims brought their computer into the bathroom after a message connected with application suggested that users fix their internal sensor by “putting [their] laptop near hot steam for several minutes,” said the Fullerton police report issued last summer.
Last summer, after Harwell’s arrest, Gary Wytcherley, Biola senior director of Information Technology, confirmed that Harwell never worked for Biola IT, nor did he ever have access to or tamper with any Biola University computers or servers.
Harwell was dismissed from Biola in October 2010 and began to attend Fullerton College. The same day he was dismissed, Biola IT worked with Campus Safety and Fullerton police to locate and deactivate the software on victims’ computers.
Harwell pleaded guilty to six felony counts of computer access and fraud, and was sentenced to one year in Anaheim County Jail and five years of probation. Additionally, he is required to complete a Sex Offender Treatment Program, according to the Orange County district attorney’s office.
The court has yet to determine whether Harwell will be required to register as a sex offender.
