CALABASAS : 3 Men Arrested on Hacking Charges

Three men, including one from Calabasas, were arrested Wednesday on suspicion of tapping into TRW computers to obtain financial records that were passed along to clients of their Malibu-based security company, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department reported.

Mark Kasden, 29, of Calabasas, Armand Grant, 57, of Malibu and Grant’s son Michael, 30, of Camarillo were being held in lieu of $55,000 bail each on suspicion of illegally accessing computers, sheriff’s spokesman Ron Weber said. The three were arrested at their homes without incident early Wednesday, Weber said.

The arrests culminated a three-year investigation by the sheriff’s fraud and forgery team, he said. Armand Grant is the owner of Tel Tec Investigations, a private security firm in the 28900 block of Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu. Michael Grant runs the company and Kasden is Tel Tec’s office manager, Weber said.

“The trio used a ruse to obtain legitimate computer access codes from major companies,” Weber said. “They used the codes to illegally access TRW computers and obtain financial records. These illegal records were then given to Tel Tec clients, including attorneys and claims adjusters.”

Weber declined to elaborate on the trio’s alleged methods for obtaining the codes or on exactly what information clients were provided.