Man Accused Of Hacking Santa Cruz County Website In 2010 Arrested After Years On The Run

SANTA CRUZ (CBS SF) – A man accused of hacking a Santa Cruz County government website more than a decade ago has been apprehended in Mexico after several years on the run, according to federal prosecutors.

According to Northern California acting U.S. Attorney Stephanie Hinds, 56-year-old Christopher Doyon was arrested by Mexican authorities on June 11 and was deported back into the United States the following day.

Doyon appeared before a federal judge on Monday on a charge of failure to appear in a 2012 court hearing while awaiting trial for allegedly launching a distributed denial of service attack against Santa Cruz County servers in 2010.

According to the indictment filed in 2011, the attack was in retaliation for the enforcement of certain camping restrictions in the city of Santa Cruz. Prosecutors alleged that Doyon and others took part in the cyberattack coordinated by a group called the People's Liberation Front, which was associated with the hacking group Anonymous.

Doyon was arrested for in 2011 on charges of conspiracy to cause intentional damage to a protected computer and causing intentional damage to a protected computer and aiding and abetting.

According to reports at the time, Doyon, who had been known online as "Commander X", had fled to Canada.

Prosecutors said if convicted, Doyon could face up to two years in prison and a $250,000 fine on the failure to appear charge, five years in prison on the conspiracy charge and up to 10 years on the charge of causing intentional damage to a computer charge.

Doyon was scheduled to be arraigned on Tuesday.