When the personal, private photos of celebrities like Jennifer Lawrence, Selena Gomez, and Rihanna appeared online in August 2014, there was a lot of debate over what to call it. The word “leak” was rejected by many as too passive, the word “scandal” seemed to put partial blame on the victim. Speaking with Vanity Fair, Lawrence herself said, “It is not a scandal. It is a sex crime. It is a sexual violation. It’s disgusting.” Well, now we have another word for it: felony. One of the men responsible, Ryan Collins, has pled guilty to felony computer-hacking charges and could face up to five years in prison.

Variety reports that Collins, a 36-year-old Pennsylvania resident, signed a plea agreement with the U.S. Attorney’s L.A. office on Tuesday. Because he cooperated with prosecutors, Collins may see a reduced sentence of only 18 months. As Lawrence put it at the time, “The law needs to be changed, and we need to change.” The law hasn’t exactly changed here, but both the successful capture and the felony charge should serve as a strong deterrent to anyone hoping to follow in Collins’s invasive footsteps.

According to U.S. officials, Collins gained access to personal data by “phishing” his celebrity victims. Between November 2012 and September 2014, Collins sent e-mails “that appeared to be from Apple or Google asking for usernames and passwords.” Prosecutors reveal that in some instances, “Collins downloaded the entire contents of the victims’ Apple iCloud backups.”

So while there’s a reluctance to blame the victims of this crime, David Bowdich, assistant director in charge of the F.B.I.’s L.A. field office urges everyone—celebrity or not—to exercise more caution online:

By illegally accessing intimate details of his victims’ personal lives, Mr. Collins violated their privacy and left many to contend with lasting emotional distress, embarrassment and feelings of insecurity. We continue to see both celebrities and victims from all walks of life suffer the consequences of this crime and strongly encourage users of Internet-connected devices to strengthen passwords and to be skeptical when replying to emails asking for personal information.

Though Lawrence has yet to weigh in on Collins’s arrest, she made her feelings about him perfectly clear in 2014. “It’s so beyond me,” she said of the theft. “I just can't imagine being that detached from humanity. I can’t imagine being that thoughtless and careless and so empty inside.”