A former Mount Laurel police officer has pleaded guilty to charges of hacking into the social media accounts of multiple women and distributing their nude self-images.
According to Burlington County Prosecutor LaChia L. Bradshaw, 25-year-old Ayron Taylor of Moorestown entered his plea on March 3 in Superior Court. He was charged with second-degree computer theft and second-degree official misconduct. Under an agreement with the prosecutor, he faces 12 years in state prison when he is sentenced in September.
The investigation began in September 2022, after the initial victim called township police to report that her social media accounts had been hacked by an unknown person who then sent private photos she had taken of herself to her contacts on Snapchat, Facebook and the Facebook wall.
It was later determined that Taylor’s multiple victims each had a student email account through Rowan College at Burlington County and that he had illegally accessed about 5,000 images from those accounts. College officials cooperated with the investigation.
The charges reflect the fact that Taylor engaged in illegal computer activity from his own personal devices while on duty as an officer. He became a full-time officer in the township police department after graduating from the police academy in October of 2021.
Mount Laurel police took immediate action to suspend him following the initial charges and Taylor resigned after measures were taken to terminate his employment. The investigation was conducted by a prosecutor’s office unit, and township police were aided by the Delran and Riveside police departments and state police.
