Federal authorities say they’ve tracked down a Somerville man suspected of hacking Children’s Hospital after he fled the country and was picked up off the coast of Cuba by a Disney cruise ship.
Martin Gottesfeld, 31, was arrested yesterday morning in Miami, where the ship came into port, and is facing one count of conspiracy, according to the U.S. District Attorney’s office. During an initial appearance yesterday in U.S. District Court in Miami, he agreed to voluntary detention pending a hearing in U.S. District Court in Boston. No date has been set.
According to an affidavit unsealed yesterday in federal court, Gottesfeld helped orchestrate the computer attack, which authorities say disrupted the hospital’s network for roughly a week, in the name of the infamous hacking group Anonymous.
The hack was done over the child custody case involving Justina Pelletier, who was the subject of a high-profile custody battle between her parents and the state, the U.S. District Attorney’s office said.
Federal authorities said Gottesfeld had been aware of a federal investigation since October 2014 after the FBI searched his home. But last week, the Somerville Police Department conducted a wellness check at his apartment only to find he was not there after his employer and relatives said they were concerned about his whereabouts.
On Tuesday, authorities in the Bahamas called the FBI’s Boston office to say that Gottesfeld and his wife were on a Disney cruise ship, but were not registered guests. Instead, they had been picked up from a small boat near Cuba after putting out a distress call.
Authorities say Gottesfeld posted a YouTube video saying — through a computer-generated voice — that Anonymous “will punish all those held accountable and will not relent until (Pelletier) is free.”
The video directed viewers to a website that had information about the hospital’s server necessary to initiate an attack against it. Authorities said the April 19, 2014, attack lasted at least seven days, disrupted the hospital’s network, and took down its website.