West New York mayor cleared, son convicted of hacking opponent’s site

Federal jurors in Newark needed a day of deliberations to clear West New York Mayor Felix Roque, while convicting his son, of federal computer hacking charges this afternoon.

Jerry DeMarco

10/01/2013 10:50 p.m.

Prosecutors contended that the elder Roque, 56, and his 23-year-old son, Joseph, hacked into and crashed a “Recall Roque” site created by Hudson County Freeholder Jose Munoz under a bogus name.

Defense lawyers made a stronger case for the mayor than for his son, for whom they didn’t argue against accusations that he accessed email addresses and passwords, disabled the site and then scrubbed it clean.

They accused Munoz of being a liar who worked as a snitch for federal agents and said the mayor had no idea how his son got the information.

PHOTO: Courtesy Nj.com

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