Jason is a Data Scientist working in Higher Education, computing enthusiast, former Teaching Assistant and Graduate Research Assistant, Eagle Scout, published researcher and candidate US Diplomat. We need your support to save Jason.

Hacker Dojo is a programming club in Silicon Valley where coders and start-ups thrive. Upon moving to Mountain View out of grad school to work for local start-ups as a Data Scientist, Jason immediately identified Hacker Dojo as his ultimate destination and joined. After having his email hacked by a senior figure at Hacker Dojo, Jason pulled a prank wherein he intermittently obstructed a hotspot maintained by his e-mail hacker, while providing open access to his own 4G WiFi hotspot and leaving several other hotspots open to members.

Jason has been indicted with a serious network hacking charge ("Causing Damage to a Protected Computer") for harmlessly pranking his fellow hacker whom first hacked Jason's email at a Silicon Valley programming club called the Hacker Dojo.

After he joined the Hacker Dojo, where he founded the Palo Alto Data Science Association and was generous donor, Jason was approached by more a senior member, Brian Klug, who felt that Jason’s humorously chosen premium email address (ad.min@hackerdojo.com) -- which Jason purchased from Hacker Dojo for $100 and simply used as a funny vanity forwarding email address for his primary Gmail account -- was not funny and too closely resembled a real admin account (Brian being one of Hacker Dojo's admins at the time, though he's since left to focus on an acting-related startup in LA). Jason never wanted anything more than to be friends with Brian and to enjoy his other friendships and Meetup groups at Hacker Dojo, as he did for several months before these horrible, ridiculous actions against him.

Immediately after the harmless hacking battle with Brian, Jason apologized and received an outpouring of supportive emails from members of the Hacker Dojo.

Your letters, photos, and outreach are greatly appreciated. It's been gratifying to see shows of support from folks around the globe, including ThinkGeek (via Twitter), the EFF (legal referrals/advice), nerd rap king YTCracker (via Facebook) and Hacker Dojo members.

Your support is needed now more than ever. Jason has no funding for his defense and his case has been juggled between very young and less experienced assistant public defenders. He has been subjected to:

-- a search with a warrant and later an illegal, warrantless search (both completely fruitless)

-- federal pre-trial detention for nearly 1 month because the prosecution argued that since he once traveled abroad once on vacation that he could've been a "flight risk" (...)

-- pre-trial supervision and monitoring

-- financial ruin stemming from legal costs, frequent status hearings requiring cross-country travel, etc

Again, Jason has no criminal background and faces no other charges; this one ridiculous charge is completely destroying him. Due to the indignity, financial devistation to himself and his family, and damage to his career, Jason will have no chance at a decent life if convicted.