A man previously employed at the Walnut office of the Viewsonic Corporation was sentenced today to one year in prison for hacking into the company's computer system and wiping out critical data, an act that shut down a computer server that was central to the company's foreign operations.

Andrew Garcia, a 39-year-old Montebello resident, was sentenced by United States District Judge John F. Walter. Garcia, who was the network administrator at Viewsonic's Walnut office where he was in charge of several computer servers and had access to system passwords, pleaded guilty in October to one count of accessing a protected computer and recklessly causing damage.

On April 14, 2002, approximately two weeks after Garcia was terminated by Viewsonic, Garcia accessed the company's computer system and deleted critical files on one of the servers that he had maintained. The loss of these files rendered the server inoperative, and Viewsonic's Taiwan office was unable to access important data for several days. Viewsonic Corporation is a manufacturer of computer monitors that generates more than $1 billion a year in revenues.

The case against Garcia was investigated by the FBI.

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

Release No. 04-022

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