An American woman is accused of hacking into a cell phone company's website in order to access personal information about Linkin Park frontman Chester Bennington and, if legal papers are to be believed, she was pretty successful, accessing the singer's personal phone number, call records and digital photos. Investigators say the defendant, one Devon Townsend, also hacked into the email of Bennington's wife Talinda and used information she obtained to make a threatening phone call to the singer's other half.
Townsend is expected to plead no contest to at least some of the charges - possibly because when investigators searched her home in Albuquerque they found, in among a load of Linkin Park posters and memorabilia, messages and photographs intercepted from the Benningtons' family email accounts.
Townsend last week reportedly waived her right to a preliminary hearing regarding the charges and was released to her mother's custody. Her attorney, Ray Twohig, told reporters that investigators were still analysing his client's computer in order to confirm exactly what violations had taken place. He explained: "This is the internet version of a groupie hiding in Mick Jagger's dressing room. We're in a different age, and fans have more skills than they used to".
No comment from Linkin Park or the Benningtons as yet regarding the case.