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VOL. 88 NO. 1
www.pcc-courieronline.com
SUMMER 2002
Police Arrest Suspected Hacker
Campus cops catch the suspect on a computer in the Learning Center
By Andrew Campa
Editor in Chief
After months of tracking an international
hacker through several states, U.S. Secret
Service agents received unexpected help from
PCC’s campus police.
Led by Chief Philip Mullendore, campus
police arrested suspected hacker Dimitri
Sinilnikov, a Russian immigrant, on May 24
while he was working on a computer in the
Career Center (L-100).
“This guy’s slick, wily, a chameleon,”
Mullendore said. “He was online, doing some¬
thing illegal.” Sinilnikov was arrested while
attempting to install a program into one of the
computers that would allow the user to trace the
computer’s history.
Mullendore confirmed that Sinilnikov was
using a key logger. Had he been successful,
Sinilnikov would have been able download
personal information such as credit card and
social security numbers.
The Chronicle of Higher Education reported
on June 24, that Sinilnikov had successfully
installed “online recorder” and “keyboard
monitor” software on the computer network of
Florida International University.
“He could have easily caused a lot of dam¬
age,” said Gregg Henderson, Caltech chief of
campus security and parking services. “If you
think about it, countless students use the school
computers.
“Let’s say I was a student and I wanted to
take out a loan. To do so I would have had to
enter my social security number to apply. Not
only could he (Sinilnikov) have stolen my cred¬
it card number but my identity with the social
security,” Henderson added.
It was Henderson who tipped off
Mullendore as to the whereabouts of
Sinilnikov. “I was contacted by the Secret
Service that morning, warning me that he was
on campus (Caltech),” Henderson said. “They
gave an IP address for us to track him down.
Unfortunately, by the time we reached the
computer he was working on he had already
left.”
Sinilnikov was unable to crack into the
Caltech computer network before he left the
premises. “He had stopped by UCLA earlier
and then came by here,” Henderson said. “He
was unable to get into our system and I figured
he was on his way across the street.”
Henderson then phoned Mullendore to say
that Sinilnikov had probably meandered over
PCC’s way. Within minutes the Secret Service
had reestablished a connection with the hacker
and provided campus police with a new IP
address to track down Sinilnikov. He was
arrested for violating parole from the state of
Florida.
Although he was arrested for parole viola¬
tion and fraud, Mullendore said that
Sinilnikov’s career in crime was well docu¬
mented. He was first arrested in 1996. He was
charged with grand larceny, trespassing, illegal
use of credit cards, credit card theft and forgery
twice.
Sinilnikov has also been linked to the
Russian mafia before. Prior to his arrest, a
group of hackers linked to the Russian mob
were suspected of breaking into the Arizona
State University computer system. The Secret
Service could not verify if the hackers had
downloaded any information from ASU.
However, they did confiscate 20 computers
from different locations on campus.
The equipment used by Sinilnikov at Florida
International and PCC is eerily similar to the
software that was used at ASU. Although the
Secret Service could confirm that software
used to trace keystrokes was installed at numer¬
ous colleges nation-wide, they could not say if
Sinilnikov was part of the Russian mafia.
“Right now I don’t think that information
can be verified,” said Donald Masters, a Los
Angeles based Secret Service agent. “It would
difficult to prove that.”
The Miami office of the Secret Service,
which had been running the investigation, was
not available for comment.
Mullendore said that one computer from the
Career Learning Center was seized and would
be investigated by the Secret Service. As for
Sinilnikov, he went along with officers quietly.
“There was no struggle,” Mullendore said of
the arrest. “I just asked him if he was a student
on this campus and he said ‘no,’ so I arrested
him.”
Mullendore said that Sinilnikov was a tran¬
sient and had been living in and out of local
bushes for the last week. After his arrest, it was
not long before the Secret Service came to
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see HACKER page 3
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Man Goes Berserk in Parking Lot
By Matthew Robinson
Contributing Writer
It took three campus police
officers more than five minutes to
subdue an individual who was out
of control, screaming and running
around in a campus parking lot on
Tuesday at noon. The male suspect
who appeared to be under the
influence of drugs was transported
Ш
to Huntington Memorial Hospital.
The 24-year-old male could not
be controlled even after officers
used pepper spray twice to calm
him. Before the incident a cadet
warned officers that the suspect
and three men appeared to be
using drugs in a car in Loti.
The cadet said he observed four
individuals sitting in the car pass¬
ing around what appeared to be a
pipe. The cadet then notified Lt.
Brad Young. As the officers were
preparing to make contact with the
suspects, the car pulled out and left
the lot. Lt. Young decided to keep
a cadet on the lookout for the car
in case it returned. After waiting
for about 20 minutes, the car
returned to the same lot and the
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Campus police finally gains control of a man suspected of being under
the influence of drugs and place him in the back of the squad car.
cadet informed Young and two
officers who were waiting in a
patrol car. As the suspect’s car
pulled into a parking spot, the
police moved in making contact
with the four occupants. Three of
the four suspects cooperated with
the officers but the forth became
combative.
“He was yelling and screaming,
he was not going to
cooperate, ’’Young said. The sus¬
pect tried to flee but was quickly
caught.
After battering an officer, he
had to be pepper sprayed. He was
handcuffed and placed in the back
of the squad car.
While the officers were ques¬
tioning the other three, the suspect
managed to undo his seatbelt and
climb into the front seat of the
patrol car. As Lt. Young opened the
door, the suspect kicked him and
took off running toward Hill
Street, still in handcuffs.
He was caught again and this
time had to be pepper sprayed and
hog-tied. “He was extremely com¬
bative,” said Young. He was then
put back in the squad car to be
transported to the Pasadena jail.
This time Young got in the back
seat with him and transported him
to the Pasadena jail. When they
arrived at the jail, the suspect com¬
plained of upper body pain. An
ambulance was called and he was
taken to Huntington Hospital
where he was examined and
released. The suspect was cited for
public intoxication and battering a
police officer. The officers then
drove him home.
“Only two of the individuals
involved in the incident appear to
be students,” said Young. “There
are several people who come to the
campus just to hang out, whistle at
girls and some who come to sell
drugs. I call them yardbirds.”
These yardbirds are under obser¬
vation and closely monitored. One
of the men in the car has been
under investigation for selling
drugs on campus for more than a
year. He appears to have set up
Ф
see ARREST page 4
School-Owned Housing Extends Campus
Professor
Picks Up
National
Award
By Kevin Awakuni
Associate Editor
When most people think of PCC, they think of
sprawling landscape and spacious courtyards that lie on
53 acres of campus. And yet, the majority of the pub¬
lic has no idea that PCC extends beyond the bound¬
aries, and that past East Colorado Avenue lies more
school grounds. On South Bonnie to be exact.
Over the course of the last 1 3 years, PCC has slow¬
ly been purchasing house on South Bonnie. The total
value of the property is estimated to be at least $1.8
million, although others say that it might be as high as
$3 million.
The school owns at least nine different houses on
South Bonnie, with seven of them being rented
through the property management company Bevin
and Brock.
According to Edgar Nandkishore, the director of
purchasing, the board of trustees has approved a poli¬
cy to purchase, “anything that comes on the market
which is north of Del Mar and on South Bonnie.”
So far PCC owns houses on 94, 102, 110, 166, 172-174,
196, 206, 214 and 224 South Bonnie, as well as property at
205 South Meredith and 460 Eaton. The majority of the pur-
A house owned by the school on South Bonnie
Avenue that may someday be used to extend
the campus boundaries.
chases came between Dec. 30, 199 land Sept. 7, 1994.
Within that three-year span, the school bought seven houses
at an average cost of $193,303.
All of the outside properties that PCC owns are exempt
from property taxes, according to a staff member at
the county assessor’s office. Because the school is
considered a public agency, it does not have to pay
any taxes on its properties.
According to Nandkishore, Bevin and Brock han¬
dle all of the day-to-day operations including inter¬
viewing potential clients, credit checks and repairs of
any kind on the property. Nandkishore said that this
setup has been in place for at least the last 10 years.
Nandkishore also said that the main goal for pur¬
chasing all of this property is to help support the
building construction program that is run through the
engineering and technology department. Through this
program students help in the deconstruction and then
reconstruction of the houses. Students who participate
# see HOUSING page 3
By Joseph Narvaez
Contributing Editor
PCC instructor Victoria
Bragin, an associate pro¬
fessor of chemistry, was
awarded first place at the Van
Cliburn Foundation’s Third
International Piano Competition for
Outstanding Amateurs held in Fort
Worth, Texas on June 8. Bragin,
currently on sabbatical, shared the
competition’s top honor with
Michael Hawley, director of special
projects at Massachusetts Institute
of Technology.
Both winners received a $2,000
cash award from Steinway & Sons
and Official Guest status for the
Finals of the Twelfth Van Cliburn
International Piano Competition in
2005. In addition, the two were
scheduled to perform at recitals in
Washington, D.C. sponsored by the
Smithsonian Associates. Because
there were two winners, they were
scheduled for separate recitals.
Hawley performed on June 16,
while Bragin’s concert will be held
on Oct. 27.
“I can’t believe I won,” said
Bragin. “All the other competitors
performed so well. I even told my
husband that if I made the semifinal
round, it would be an uphill strug¬
gle.”
The field of 75 who started the
competition was whittled down to
18 semifinalists and then six were
selected to move on to the final
round. The diverse group of final¬
ists included a CD-ROM game
composer, a flight attendant purser,
a doctor of internal medicine and a
sales' representative. The contest¬
ants were allowed to choose their
0 see BRAGIN page 3
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