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<p>WILKES-BARRE &#8212; A city man featured in a documentary detailing Luzerne County&#8217;s juvenile justice scandal pleaded not guilty Wednesday to charges he hacked and tried to sell emails belonging to former city Mayor Tom Leighton.</p><p>Justin Bodnar, 27, entered the plea during his formal arraignment in U.S. District Court in Wilkes-Barre.</p><p>&#8220;I plead not guilty,&#8221; said Bodnar, wearing glasses and dressed in a blue button-up dress shirt with his hair pulled back into a bun.</p><p>An indictment returned last month by a federal grand jury charged the local computer sciences student with unauthorized access to a protected computer &#8212; belonging to &#8220;T.L.&#8221; &#8212; and intentional damage to a protected computer. Both charges are felonies. The indictment states the alleged crimes occurred in 2012 and 2013.</p><p>Bodnar, who was not identified when the Times Leader reported the incident in 2014, allegedly hacked Leighton&#8217;s emails and tried to sell them to Forty Fort resident and local blogger Mark Robbins, but was caught during an FBI sting operation outside a Hanover Township McDonald&#8217;s.</p><p>Bodnar, featured in the 2013 &#8220;Kids for Cash&#8221; documentary about disgraced former county judges Mark Ciavarella and Michael Conahan, said said he learned his skills while in juvenile detention, Robbins had said. Robbins paid the man for the disk, and they walked outside the restaurant where he watched several FBI agents swarm Bodnar, the blogger had said.</p><p>In addition to Leighton&#8217;s email, Bodnar in 2012 allegedly hacked the computers of his former employer &#8211; identified in the indictment only as &#8220;M.S.&#8221; and &#8220;C.S.&#8221; &#8211; and damaged them.</p><p>Magistrate Judge Joseph F. Saporito Jr. allowed Bodnar to remain free under his own recognizance pending further hearings. He ordered Bodnar, a computer sciences major at an area college, to maintain his education while free. Bodnar must surrender his passport and restrict his travel to the Middle District of Pennsylvania, the judge ordered.</p><p>If convicted of both counts, Bodnar would face a maximum penalty of six years in federal prison and more than $350,000 in total fines, Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert J. O&#8217;Hara said.</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Justin Bodnar walks to the federal courthouse in Wilkes-Barre for his hearing Wednesday before U.S. Magistrate Joseph Saporito. Bodnar pleaded not guilty to computer hacking charges. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/web1_bodnar01.jpg</photo0><caption0>Justin Bodnar walks to the federal courthouse in Wilkes-Barre for his hearing Wednesday before U.S. Magistrate Joseph Saporito. Bodnar pleaded not guilty to computer hacking charges. </caption0><photoCredit0>Pete G. Wilcox | Times Leader </photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/web1_bodnar02.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Justin Bodnar, who was featured in the &#8216;Kids for Cash&#8217; documentary, was indicted last month for allegedly hacking emails belonging to former city Mayor Tom Leighton. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/web1_bodnar02.jpg</photo1><caption1>Justin Bodnar, who was featured in the &#8216;Kids for Cash&#8217; documentary, was indicted last month for allegedly hacking emails belonging to former city Mayor Tom Leighton. </caption1><photoCredit1>Pete G. Wilcox | Times Leader </photoCredit1></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Joe Dolinsky</p><p>jdolinsky@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div>

Wilkes-Barre man pleads not guilty to charges he hacked former Mayor Tom Leighton’s emails