Medghyne Calonge, Computer Data Destruction, Florida 2024

Grimy Times learned today that Medghyne Calonge, a 41-year-old woman from Tampa, Florida, was convicted of intentionally damaging computers and recklessly damaging computers after she was fired from her job as the head of human resources at a Manhattan-based online provider of professional services.

According to the indictment, Calonge was hired by Employer-1 in January 2019 to work in their St. Petersburg, Florida, office. However, she was terminated on June 28, 2019, after failing to meet the minimum requirements of her job. During her termination, Calonge was observed hitting the delete key on her desktop computer several times.

Several hours later, Calonge logged into a system used by Employer-1 to receive and manage applications for employment with the company. Over the next two days, she deleted over 17,000 job applications and resumes, and left messages with profanities inside the system. Ultimately, Calonge completely destroyed all of Employer-1’s data in the system.

The company subsequently spent over $100,000 to investigate and respond to the incident and to rebuild the system. To this day, Employer-1 has been unable to recover all of its data.

Calonge was convicted of one count of intentionally damaging computers, which carries a maximum prison term of 10 years, and one count of recklessly damaging computers, which carries a maximum prison term of five years. The case is being handled by the Office’s Complex Frauds and Cybercrime Unit.

Assistant United States Attorneys Timothy V. Capozzi and Louis A. Pellegrino are in charge of the prosecution. U.S. Attorney Audrey Strauss praised the outstanding work of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Calone awaits sentencing for her crimes, which will be determined by the judge. The statutory maximum penalties are prescribed by Congress and are provided for informational purposes only.

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