Matthew Weaver of Huntington Beach Gets a Year for Trying to Rig College Student Election

A Huntington Beach High School grad, who pleaded guilty in March to trying to rig a student election at Cal State San Marcos in San Diego County, was sentenced Monday in federal court to a year in federal custody.

Matthew Weaver, 22, in March 2012 tried to win the student council president election that would have given him an $8,0000 stipend and oversight of a $30,000 Associated Students Inc. annual budget.

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But campus police caught Weaver at a school computer on the last day of the four-day election with a keylogger, a small electronic device that secretly records a computer user's keystrokes.

The FBI took over the investigation that discovered Weaver had purchased three keyloggers more than a month before the election. A search of his laptop showed he'd searched for “how to rig an election” and “jail time for keylogger.” (Cue Homer: “DOH!”)

In the end, it was learned the then-third-year business student had stolen nearly 750 student passwords. San Marcos officials called it the largest identity theft case in the university's 24-year history. Weaver eventually copped to three federal charges and admitted to casting about 480 votes for himself and friends on the ballot.

Matthew Weaver, Former Huntington Beach High Student, Uses Computer to Rig School Election in San Diego

The election results were tossed and a new election was called.

Email: mc****@oc******.com. Twitter: @MatthewTCoker. Follow OC Weekly on Twitter @ocweekly or on Facebook!

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