Florida woman ‘rampaged’ employer’s computer system after getting fired

TAMPA, Fla. — A Florida woman deleted thousands of company records and wrote profanities in her employer’s computer system after she was fired from her position as head of human resources.

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Medghyne Calonge was found guilty of one count of intentionally causing damage to a protected computer, one count of accessing a protected computer and recklessly causing damage, prosecutors said.

Calonge, 41, worked in St. Petersburg, Florida, for a Manhattan-based company, which was not named. She was fired for failing to meet the minimum requirements for the job she was hired for. In one instance, she downgraded an employee’s access to a computer system after an argument.

After she was fired, but before she was escorted from the building, two employees saw her repeatedly hit the delete key on her computer. Calonge later logged into the computer system and for two days “rampaged” the system, deleting 17,000 job applications and resumes, and leaving profane messages written in the system.

Prosecutors said the company spent two years and $100,000 creating the computer system Calonge wiped. The company spent another $100,000 investigating and rebuilding it. The company never fully recovered the data.

“Her actions wiped out information vitally important to the employer company, and cost the company money and time to repair,” U.S. Attorney Audrey Strauss said in a statement. “Now Calonge awaits sentencing for her crimes.”

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