A former Mount Laurel police officer has been sentenced to 12 years in prison after hacking into approximately 5,000 student email accounts at a New Jersey college and several women’s social media accounts to steal and distribute nude photos, according to the Burlington County Prosecutor’s Office.
Ayron Taylor, 25, of Moorestown, was convicted on charges of computer theft and official misconduct. Authorities said Taylor committed these acts while on duty as a patrol officer.
“This was an extremely nightmarish invasion of privacy for these victims,” Burlington County Prosecutor LaChia L. Bradshaw said in a statement. “It was made even more egregious by the fact that the person who was terrorizing these young ladies was a law enforcement officer.”
The investigation found that all the women whose images were leaked had student email accounts with Rowan College at Burlington County. The probe began in September 2022 when law enforcement responded to reports from a woman whose Snapchat and Facebook accounts had been hacked. She reported that an “unknown person” accessed her accounts and sent her nude images to her friends on both platforms. Her photos were also posted publicly on her Facebook wall.
According to officials, “The charges reflect the fact that Taylor engaged in illegal computer activity from his own personal devices while on duty as a patrol officer,” the prosecutor’s office stated.
Taylor resigned from the Mount Laurel Police Department after being charged and suspended. He had joined the department in October 2021.
Mount Laurel is located about 15 miles east of Philadelphia.
