An Idaho man, Robert Purbeck, has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for hacking into computer servers of 19 victims across the United States. The scheme involved stealing personally identifiable information (PII) from over 132,000 individuals and attempting to extort a Florida orthodontist by threatening to disclose stolen patient records.
Court documents reveal that in June 2017, Purbeck purchased access to a medical clinic's server in Griffin, Georgia, through a darknet marketplace. Using stolen credentials, he accessed the clinic's computers and extracted sensitive PII of more than 43,000 people. In February 2018, he similarly accessed a City of Newnan Police Department server in Georgia and stole police reports containing PII for over 14,000 individuals.
In July 2018, Purbeck attempted to extort an orthodontist in Florida by demanding Bitcoin as ransom for the return of stolen patient files. He threatened to sell the personal information unless paid and also targeted the orthodontist’s minor child. Over ten days, Purbeck sent numerous threatening emails and text messages.
The FBI executed a federal search warrant at Purbeck’s home on August 21, 2019. They seized multiple electronic devices containing personal data obtained through various breaches.
Purbeck pleaded guilty on March 19 to two counts of unauthorized access and obtaining information from protected computers. Alongside his prison sentence, he is required to serve three years of supervised release and pay $1,048,702.98 in restitution.
The announcement was made by Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Nicole M. Argentieri; U.S. Attorney Ryan K. Buchanan for the Northern District of Georgia; and Acting Special Agent in Charge Sean Burke of the FBI Atlanta Field Office.
The case was investigated by the FBI Atlanta Field Office with assistance from the FBI Boise Resident Agency. It was prosecuted by Trial Attorney Brian Mund and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Michael Herskowitz, Nathan Kitchens, and Alex R. Sistla for the Northern District of Georgia with support from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Idaho.