In a hearing held earlier today, a Seattle judge decided to keep Paige Thompson, the suspect arrested on accusations of hacking Capital One, under custody until her trial.
The judge ruled that Thompson was a flight risk, and a threat to herself and others, and should remain detained for the time being.
The decision comes after the suspect’s lawyers tried earlier this week to have Thompson, a transgender woman, moved to a halfway house and have her placed under GPS monitoring, so she can have better access to mental health care, and to prevent her from becoming subject to abuse or experiencing trauma.
But despite noting in previous court documents that Thompson’s behavior appears to be related to “a significant history of mental health problems,” the prosecution argued against, that Thompson should remain detained for the time being.
Prosecutors cited threats Thompson had made to kill herself (by committing “suicide by cop”) and shoot up a work office. They also presented documents detailing three stalking allegations filed against Thompson in previous years.
Today, in court, they also introduced new evidence detailing a previously unseen message that Thompson had sent to a Bitcoin exchange employee in September 2018, in which she said she would want to travel to Tijuana, Mexico to “do a little medical suicide tourism.”
Taking these facts into consideration, the judge sided with the prosecution and ruled that Thompson should remain under custody until her trial.
Thompson’s trial date has not been set. She was charged and arrested in July on accusations of breaching Capital One and taking the data of more than 106 million users.
The US government described their evidence in the case against Thompson as “overwhelming.”
They also said they found “multiple terabytes of data stolen by Thompson from more than 30 other companies, educational institutions, and other entities.”
Investigators said the data was stored on computer equipment seized from Thompson’s house during her arrest. The government said it has yet to identify or notify all victims, and that they plan to file additional charges once they do.
Credit: Zdnet
