Ex-school district employee jailed for hacks on former employer
Ex-school district employee jailed for hacks on former employer
A former IT employee at an Iowa school district has been sentenced to 21 months in prison for conducting a prolonged cyberattack against his former employer, which disrupted classroom operations and caused significant financial damage. 💻💔
Ezekiel Dean Potter, 34, previously worked as a senior IT support specialist for the Saydel Community School District in Des Moines from May 2022 through April 2023. After his employment ended, he retained access credentials and targeted the district’s systems repeatedly over the next 21 months. The U.S. government described him as a “plague on the Saydel Community School District” in a sentencing memorandum.
The attacks began shortly after Potter left the district, with the deletion of Saydel’s Facebook account. He later targeted the district’s Apple School Manager account, deleting user accounts and critical data, which prevented school employees from accessing the platform for about a week. 📅
In January 2025, Potter accessed the district’s Schoology learning management system and deleted an IT employee’s account, disrupting classes for approximately two hours. He also deleted nine Gmail accounts belonging to current and former district employees, including the IT director and superintendent.
After receiving security alerts, Potter switched to using a VPN service. Investigators traced some of his activities back to IP addresses associated with his other employers. After leaving The Printer Inc. in January 2025, he asked a coworker to retrieve a USB drive from his desk, which contained sensitive information about Saydel School District accounts.
Potter pleaded guilty to computer fraud charges in January 2026 without a plea agreement. On June 11, he was sentenced to 21 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release, and is required to pay $59,668.81 in restitution to the Saydel Community School District. đź’°
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