A Romanian national was sentenced this week to 56 months in federal prison for breaking into an Oregon state government computer network and selling access to other victims in the United States. The case involved at least $250,000 in losses and a forfeiture order for about 23 Monero, worth roughly $8,500.
KEY FACTS
- Defendant Catalin Dragomir, 46, of Constanta, Romania, used the handle “inthematrixl.”
- Plea He pleaded guilty on February 19 to aggravated identity theft and obtaining information from a protected computer.
- Intrusion He accessed a computer on the Oregon Department of Emergency Management network in June 2021.
- Impact Prosecutors said he sold access to nearly a dozen other victims.
The court sentencing document said Dragomir faced a maximum of five years on the computer intrusion count and a mandatory consecutive two-year term for identity theft, along with a possible $250,000 fine and three years of supervised release. The court instead imposed a 56-month prison term.
According to the report, Dragomir gained unauthorized access to a system in June 2021 and later sold that access to a prospective buyer. During the transaction, he also provided samples of personally identifiable information, including names, email addresses, dates of birth and passport numbers taken from the compromised device.
He also sold access to the networks of nearly a dozen other victims across the United States. Prosecutors said those activities led to total losses of at least $250,000.
Dragomir was arrested in Romania in November 2024, extradited to the United States in January 2025 and later sentenced in federal court. The case was investigated by the FBI in Portland and prosecuted by the Justice Department’s Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section.
WHY IT MATTERS
The case shows how a single intrusion can be used to sell access and personal data to other criminals. It also highlights cross-border cooperation in cybercrime cases that affect U.S. government systems and private victims.