Alleged EPISD Hacker In Federal Court

In August 2011, the largest school district in El Paso was hacked, putting at risk private information of thousands of students and employees of El Paso Independent School District.

Thursday morning, the Mississippi man accused of the scheme was in federal court in El Paso for the first time.

Kaleb Ketchens, 20, was arrested in early April in Jackson, Miss. He was released on bond and ordered to appear in court in El Paso.

Inside the courtroom, Judge Norbert Garney re-read Ketchens charges.

An arraignment date is scheduled for April 26.

Ketchens faces three counts of computer fraud and one count of fraud with identification documents.

He is accused of hacking into EPISD’s database and publicly posting names, addresses and possibly Social Security numbers of 63,000 students and more than 9,000 employees.

If convicted, he faces up to five years in prison and $250,000 fine.

Judge Garney instructed Ketchens have a local public defender appointed to him after Ketchens said he did not have the money to hire one.

It is a possibility Ketchens won’t have to be at his arraignment.

Acknowledging he has to travel from Mississippi, Judge Garney said he could waive the arraignment.

Ketchens appointed attorney would have to be present on April 26.

Outside the federal courthouse, Ketchens, accompanied by his father and brother, did not say a single word to ABC-7.

He only smirked after questioned about the allegations by an ABC-7 reporter.

Renee de Santos, spokeswoman for EPISD, sent ABC-7 a statement that reads:

“The district has worked closely with authorities on the investigation that has led to an arrest and indictment. When the breach occurred last year, our Technology Services Department implemented additional security measures to enhance our network security. We will continue to urge our employees, students and parents to be vigilant about their personal information and take protective measures to guard against identify theft.”