Burlington County Prosecutor LaChia L. Bradshaw announced that a former Mount Laurel police officer has been sentenced to 12 years in prison after an investigation revealed that he hacked into the social media accounts of multiple women and distributed nude images they kept of themselves.
The sentence, handed down in Superior Count in Mount Holly on September 5 to Ayron Taylor, was in accordance with the plea agreement negotiated with the Prosecutor’s Office. Taylor, 25, of Moorestown, pled guilty in March to Elements of Computer Theft (Second Degree) and Official Misconduct (Second Degree).
Prosecutor LaChia L. Bradshaw thanked the high-tech investigators assigned to the case for pursuing the perpetrator with a tenacity that quickly led to his identity.
“You cannot hide from us in cyberspace – we are there, too, and we know how to find you,” Prosecutor Bradshaw said. “This was an extremely nightmarish invasion of privacy for these victims. It was made even more egregious by the fact that the person who was terrorizing these young ladies was a law enforcement officer.”
The investigation began in September 2022 after the initial victim contacted Evesham Township police to report that her Snapchat and Facebook accounts had been hacked by an unknown person who then sent nude photos she had taken of herself to her Snapchat contacts, messaged them to her Facebook friends, and posted them on her Facebook wall.
As the investigation progressed, it was determined that the commonality among all victims was that each one had a student email account through Rowan College at Burlington County. The investigation further determined that Taylor illegally accessed approximately 5,000 RCBC email accounts. College officials cooperated with the investigation.
The charges reflect the fact that Taylor engaged in illegal computer activity from his own personal devices while on duty as a patrol officer. He became a full-time officer in Mount Laurel after graduating from the police academy in October 2021. The department took immediate action to suspend him following the initial charges. Taylor resigned after measures were taken to terminate his employment.
The investigation was conducted by the BCPO High-Tech Crimes Unit and the Evesham Township Police Department, with assistance from the Mount Laurel Police Department, Delran Police Department, the New Jersey State Police and the Riverside Police Department. The lead investigator was ETPD Detective Christopher DeFrancesco.
Taylor was prosecuted by Assistant Prosecutor Stephen Eife, supervisor of the BCPO Special Victims Unit.
The BCPO is a member of the New Jersey Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force.