Chambersburg Man Sentenced to 22 Months in Prison for Hacking Into Social Media Accounts and Stealing Private Photographs

PHILADELPHIA - United States Attorney Jacqueline C. Romero announced that Reginald Adams, aka "Reggie Adams," 25, of Chambersburg, PA, was sentenced today by Senior United States District Court Judge Michael Baylson to 22 months' imprisonment and three years of supervised release, for hacking into numerous social media accounts and circulating the victims' private photographs.

On January 30, 2024, the defendant pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud.

From May 2020 to August 2021, Davis hacked into the Snapchat accounts of at least 20 female victims. Targeting mostly women he knew from high school, he tricked the victims into providing their account security codes by sending them text messages from anonymized numbers claiming to be Snapchat official staff. Once he obtained the security codes, he logged into the victims' accounts and reset the passwords. He located any private sexually explicit photographs in the "My Eyes Only" section of the accounts and shared them with the victims' contacts - their friends, family, coworkers, and acquaintances. Sometimes, he posted the victims' private photos on public websites, along with the victims' contact information, which led to victims receiving unsolicited messages from unknown individuals who had seen their private photos. He also extorted victims, tricking them into sending him photos by falsely promising to pay them, then using their photos to control the victims and extract more photos.

"It's truly hard to understand why someone would be this cruel," said U.S. Attorney Romero. "What's crystal clear, though, is that Reginald Adams respects the law as little as he respects women. Again and again, he deliberately targeted, tricked, and took the most personal of photos from his victims, posting them online, violating their privacy, and causing significant emotional distress. We and our partners at the FBI take crimes like this incredibly seriously, and we're committed to seeking justice for victims and accountability for cyber predators like Adams."

The case was investigated by the FBI and prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Sarah M. Wolfe.