A former New Jersey police officer has been sentenced to 12 years in prison for hacking into multiple women’s social media accounts and distributing their private nude images, officials said Thursday.
Ayron Taylor, 25, of Moorestown, pleaded guilty earlier this year to charges of computer theft and official misconduct.
Taylor, who began working as a full-time officer at the Mount Laurel Police Department in October 2021, was accused of illegally accessing approximately 5,000 emails from Rowan College at Burlington County students.
Authorities first became aware of the hacking in September 2022, after a victim contacted Evesham Township police to report that an unknown person had gained access to her Snapchat and Facebook accounts and sent nude photos of her to contacts on both platforms.
The person even posted the images on the victim’s Facebook wall, Burlington County Prosecutor LaChia L. Bradshaw said, calling the incident “an extremely nightmarish invasion of privacy.”
An investigation led by the BCPO’s high-tech crimes unit later determined that all victims had a student email account through Rowan College and that Taylor was the person behind the hacking.
Investigators also found that Taylor used his personal devices to hack into the accounts, which he did while on duty as a patrol officer.
He was arrested in October 2022 and resigned from his position while measures were underway to terminate his employment, officials said.
Last week, he was sentenced to 12 years in prison under a plea agreement with the prosecution.
“You cannot hide from us in cyberspace — we are there, too, and we know how to find you,” Bradshaw said Thursday when announcing his sentence.
He noted that a terrifying situation was made “even more egregious by the fact that the person who was terrorizing these young ladies was a law enforcement officer.”
