LOS ANGELES (AP) — A Pennsylvania man has agreed to plead guilty to hacking into email and online accounts of several female celebrities and stealing private information including nude photos and videos. 
 
 The U.S. Attorney's Office in Los Angeles announced Tuesday that Ryan Collins of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, has agreed to plead guilty to one count of gaining unauthorized access to a protected computer to obtain information. 
 
 Prosecutors say the 36-year-old was charged as part of an investigation into the posting of nude photos of numerous celebrities, including Jennifer Lawrence and model Kate Upton, but the he is not suspected of being involved in releasing those images. 
 
 Prosecutors stated they do not have any evidence Collins posted any of the images he stole from more than 100 Google and Apple accounts. ||||| Breaking News Emails Get breaking news alerts and special reports. The news and stories that matter, delivered weekday mornings. 
 
 / Updated By Andrew Blankstein 
 
 A Pennsylvania man has been charged in the hacking of Apple and Google accounts belonging to more than 100 people, many of them celebrities, officials said on Tuesday. 
 
 Between Nov. 2012 and Sept. 2014, Ryan Collins, 36, sent fake emails that purported to be from Apple or Google, and got victims to unknowingly hand over their usernames and passwords, the U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California said. 
 
 He then used that information to get into their email accounts, swiping nude photos in some instances, and sometimes downloading full backups from Apple’s iCloud, prosecutors said in a charging document filed Tuesday. 
 
 Police began probing an apparent iCloud hack that resulted in leaked nude photos of Jennifer Lawrence and other celebrities, mostly women, in September of 2014. 
 
 Collins, of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, was charged in Los Angeles with violating the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act and has agreed to plead guilty to one count of unauthorized access to a protected computer to obtain information, prosecutors said. 
 
 The charge carries a maximum of five years in prison, but prosecutors will recommend a sentence of 18 months, the U.S. Attorney's Office said. 
 
 There’s an ongoing investigation into the hacking itself, as well as into the posting of the photos. There has not been any evidence that Collins himself posted any of the photos, or that he was directly involved in leaking them, officials said on Tuesday. 
 
 Collins case will be transferred to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. This is the first arrest in connection with the security breach. At least 50 iCloud accounts and 72 Gmail accounts were compromised, officials said. 
 
 "By illegally accessing intimate details of his victims' personal lives, Mr. Collins violated their privacy and left many to contend with lasting emotional distress, embarrassment and feelings of insecurity," David Bowdich, the Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office, said in a statement. 
 
 "We continue to see both celebrities and victims from all walks of life suffer the consequences of this crime and strongly encourage users of Internet-connected devices to strengthen passwords and to be skeptical when replying to emails asking for personal information," he said. ||||| Ryan Collins ran a two-year phishing scam to gain the passwords of more than 100 people, including Jennifer Lawrence, Rihanna and Avril Lavigne 
 
 The hacker who stole nude photos of female celebrities in 2014 has been sentenced to 18 months in federal prison, officials announced on Thursday. 
 
 In a court in May, Ryan Collins, a 36-year-old from Lancaster, Pennsylvania, pleaded guilty to federal hacking charges and admitted to a two-year phishing scam to gain passwords of more than 100 people, including actors Jennifer Lawrence and Aubrey Plaza and singers Rihanna and Avril Lavigne. 
 
 
 
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 Collins tricked celebrities into handing him their usernames and passwords by sending his targets fake emails that appeared to be from Apple and Google, Pennsylvania US attorney Bruce Brandler said in a statement. Collins then stole personal information, including nude photos, from his targets, most of whom work in the entertainment industry. 
 
 
 
 “In some cases,” Brandler’s office said, “Collins would use a software program to download the entire contents of the victims’ Apple iCloud backups. In addition, Collins ran a modeling scam in which he tricked his victims into sending him nude photographs.” 
 
 Investigators found that Collins had gained access to at least 50 Apple iCloud accounts and 72 Gmail accounts, many of which belonged to famous women. 
 
 In August 2014 images of more than 100 actors, singers and other well known women were posted online, which were variously confirmed and condemned by some of the celebrities and called fakes by others. Several quickly criticized Apple for failing to secure private information on its iCloud services, and the company said that it had suffered “a very targeted attack on usernames, passwords and security cases”. 
 
 “None of the cases we have investigated has resulted from any breach in any of Apple’s systems,” the company said that fall. 
 
 On Thursday the US attorney noted, however, that FBI investigators did not uncover evidence linking him to the actual release of private information or photos “or that Collins shared or uploaded the information he obtained”. 
 
 He was originally charged in Los Angeles but the case was transferred closer to his home in Pennsylvania, where a judge sentenced him on Wednesday. He had faced up to five years in jail and a $250,000 fine. 
 
 FBI investigators have traced similar hacking attacks on celebrities to two other men, one in Chicago and one in Oregon. Each pleaded guilty earlier this year, and investigators have said the three cases are unrelated.
– A Pennsylvania man has agreed to plead guilty to hacking into email and online accounts of several female celebrities and stealing private information including nude photos and videos, the AP reports. The US Attorney's Office in Los Angeles announced Tuesday that Ryan Collins of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, has agreed to plead guilty to one count of gaining unauthorized access to a protected computer to obtain information. Prosecutors say the 36-year-old was charged as part of an investigation into the posting of nude photos of numerous celebrities, including Jennifer Lawrence and model Kate Upton, but the he is not suspected of being involved in releasing those images. Per NBC News, Collins got victims' usernames and passwords for Apple and Google accounts by sending them fake emails that claimed to be from Apple or Google; once in, he grabbed information including nude photos. Prosecutors stated they do not have any evidence Collins posted any of the images he stole from more than 100 Google and Apple accounts, but his is the first arrest connected to the 2014 hack, which affected at least 50 iCloud accounts and 72 Gmail accounts. Prosecutors will recommend an 18-month sentence.