‘Bitcoin Baron’ Hacker Arrested By Police in Arizona

The notorious “Bitcoin Baron” hacker has been remanded in custody in Arizona following a six-month police investigation.

The serial DDoS attacker, whose real name is Randall Charles Tucker, has openly written and gone on record about his favored practice of taking down websites of government authorities he considers to have committed injustices.

The episode which ultimately led to his arrest, Open Ledger reports, involved a YouTube video and an email sent to Arizona local authorities threatening to compromise their systems following the release of a convicted felon who later committed murder.

“Hello, My name is Bitcoin Baron and I have something for you. I’m currently attacking mesaaz.gov for their incompetence in the fact that they didn’t keep Ryan Giroux in prison for life for his other felonies, but instead he was out and able to kill someone and injure others,” the email read. 

A similar occurrence in Wisconsin over a town which refused to take legal action over a fatal shooting by a police officer places Tucker as the main suspect, the publication reports.

Just last month, Tucker gave an interview to the New York Observer in which he frankly discussed his preferred style of attack and underlying motives.

Asked about what gives him the impetus to act, Tucker said: “Mostly police abusing innocent citizens … Hmmm, I would say corrupt officials as well if I get a hold of anything that’s got something to do with citizens in the crosshairs of bad.”

He continued, hinting that although he had invested in “small time” jurisdictions, he would not necessarily hesitate to target larger ones:

“I’m going after those that I find in news articles that do wrong really. If I find a bigger target government, I will go after that. It’s mostly just police abusing innocent though which is mostly these small time sites.”

Tucker’s offences also include demanding a ransom of 100BTC for the alleviation of another government site. Following his arrest, Tucker was less restrained but no less candid as he hit out at authorities from his Twitter account:

I fucking hate the US states for charging for a simple word because that's all they got on me. Putting me in prison for 1 word.

— Dead Acc (@_Bitcoin_Baron_) March 29, 2015

Currently in an Arizona state detention center, Tucker is due to appear in court April 20.

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