SAN MARCOS: FBI looking into CSUSM election tampering allegations


The FBI is looking into what may be the largest theft of Cal State San Marcos students' computer passwords in the school's 23-year history, authorities said.

It is the latest development in an odd case involving allegations of election tampering by a candidate running to be the school's student body president. University officials said they suspect the user IDs and passwords of some 700 students were stolen to alter results of the election, where votes were cast by computer.

Last month, school police arrested and jailed the candidate, third-year business student Matt Weaver, on suspicion of election fraud and identity theft. He bailed out and was not charged with a crime. But last week, the FBI acknowledged that it was investigating the case.



Weaver could not be reached for comment.

On Tuesday, university spokeswoman Margaret Lutz-Chantung confirmed that the school was working with the FBI, but declined further comment on the allegations against Weaver. She did say, however, that the university had locked down the 700 affected accounts and warned the victims their accounts had been compromised.

Each of the school's 10,200 students gets a user ID and password to sign into a school account, which they can use to register for or drop classes, as well as to vote in Associated Students Inc. elections.

A second university spokeswoman, Cathy Baur, said the campus "has never before had a situation where a student or students have taken log-in or password IDs from students they did not know."

And, Baur said, this is the largest such identity theft case ---- and the only one of its nature ---- to occur at Cal State San Marcos since its founding in 1989.

The investigation into ID theft started when the university's computer technicians alerted police to odd activity on a university computer, authorities said. Campus police arrested Weaver after they found him at a school computer and in possession of a device that can be used to steal computer passwords.

Weaver was arrested and jailed March 15 ---- the last day of the four-day voting period ---- on suspicion of election fraud, unlawful access to a computer or database, and 10 counts of identity theft. He posted $50,000 bail the following day.

University administrators canceled the mid-March election, for fear the results were compromised. It was rescheduled for May.

"The decision was to restart the process by scratch," school spokeswoman Lutz.

Even before the tampering allegations, Weaver's candidacy was a point of contention on campus because of his association with the Koala, an underground campus newspaper.

The tabloid, which billed itself as a parody, featured explicit violent and sexual content, including lists such as "top five excuses for rape," and "top 10 breakup lines to use on a girl you kidnapped."

One issue depicted a student's face digitally altered onto a pornographic image of two women.


