Three New York Teens Arrested for Changing Grades and Schedules

Investigators traced a breach of school computers to the home of Daniel Soares, the alleged ringleader of the trio. 

Soares is accused of breaking into Commack High School after school hours and installing a device known as a "key logger" into a school computer. The tool enabled him to collect logins and password credentials, remotely from his home.

School officials called police in July after realizing the class schedules of about 300 students had been changed without authorization. 

Soares' accomplices, Alex Mosquera and Erick Vaysman, were charged with soliciting him for favors. 

According to Newsday, it is believed Soares entered an unlocked classroom in May -- after class hours but while the school still was open for extracurricular activities -- and installed the keystroke-tracker. He returned two days later to retrieve the device, which had recorded about two dozen teachers' and administrators' usernames and passwords.

"Every teacher and administrator who was in that classroom and logged in, he was able to get into their district account," an investigator told the newspaper. "And that's how he then is able to use those usernames and passwords . . . to get into the network to make changes to the grades and the schedules."

Soares allegedly repeated the scheme in early June.

On Sept. 2, officers found the key logger in his home.