A man previously employed at the Walnut office of the Viewsonic Corporation pleaded guilty this morning in United States District Court in Los
Angeles to a federal charge of hacking into the company’s computer system and wiping out critical data, acts that shut down a computer server that was central to the company’s foreign operations. Andrew Garcia, 38, formerly of Montebello, pleaded guilty to one count of accessing a protected computer and recklessly causing damage.

Viewsonic Corporation is a manufacturer of computer monitors that generates annual revenues of more than $1 billion. Garcia was the network administrator at Viewsonic’s office in Walnut, California, where he was in charge of several computer servers and had access to system passwords for management employees.

According to court documents, on April 14, 2002, approximately two weeks after Garcia was terminated, Garcia accessed Viewsonic’s computer system and deleted critical files on one of the servers that he had maintained while he was employed by the company. The loss of these files rendered the server inoperative, and Viewsonic’s Taiwan office was unable to access important data for several days.

Garcia pleaded guilty before United States District Judge John F. Walter, who is scheduled to sentence the defendant on January 12, 2004. Garcia faces a maximum possible sentence of five years in federal prison and a fine of $250,000.

The case against Garcia was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

CONTACT: Assistant United States Attorney Wesley L. Hsu
(213) 894-3045

Release No. 03-140

• More information on: Defendant's Sentence
• More information on: Defendant's Arrest
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