Former Officer Accused of Using CHP System to Spy
A former California Highway Patrol officer was charged Friday with illegally using a law enforcement computer system to get confidential information on colleagues, neighbors--and his mother.
Keith M. Connole, 37, of Palmdale, faces six counts of illegally accessing a computer. His arraignment is scheduled for Aug. 29.
Connole is the second CHP employee to be charged in less than two months with illegal computer use.
Investigators allege that Connole illegally used a law enforcement computer system on six occasions between January and June 1999 to get information about a CHP supervisor, another CHP officer, two neighbors and his mother.
It is not known what kind of information Connole sought about his mother, said Mike Qualls, spokesman for the city attorney’s office.
The CHP launched its investigation after an internal audit of the evidence room at the CHP station on West Washington Boulevard in central Los Angeles, where Connole was assigned between April 1998 and September 1999.
As part of their probe, CHP investigators reviewed records of Connole’s use of the California Law Enforcement Telecommunications System, a confidential computer system that taps into driving and criminal records.
Connole was terminated by the CHP Dec. 3.
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