CHEYENNE, Wyo. — A 44-year-old man was arrested by the Cheyenne Police Department after being accused of offering to repair a cell phone and then stealing multiple intimate photos.
Court documents show that Shawn Taylor Colvin made his initial court appearance in Laramie County Circuit Court on Thursday, May 7th, 2020 and was charged with Accessing a Computer Without Authorization, a felony, and Modifying Computer Equipment Without Authorization, a misdemeanor.
Colvin was also charged with misdemeanor Theft Under $1,000
Police say that on December of 2018 they were contacted by an individual who accused Colvin of accessing personal photos on their phone without authorization. The accuser also alleged that Colvin stole an SD card, or Secure Digital Card, where the photos were being stored.
According to court papers, the accuser told police that they contacted Colvin through Facebook Messenger after it was recommended that he could help replace their cracked cellphone screen. Police say the reporting party told them that they dropped their phone off at Colvin’s residence after he said that he could have the repair done on the same day or the next morning.
An affidavit filed in court says that Colvin reportedly asked for the passcode for the phone, so he could contact the owner after it was repaired.
When the alleged victim returned home, they say they used Facebook Messenger on another device and discovered that five messages had been sent from their personal account to Colvin’s Facebook Messenger. The reportedly messages contained multiple personal photos that were being stored on the phone that had been given Colvin for repairs.
The accuser reported to police that they immediately went back over to Colvin’s residence to retrieve their phone. Colvin was said to have returned the phone, but denied sending the photos through Facebook Messenger.
Police say that the alleged victim advised them that they received multiple messages from Colvin afterward who allegedly told them that he deleted the photos and that he “begged for forgiveness”.
The court papers say that later that evening the accuser noticed that none of their photos, music, or other saved data were on the phone. They went on to tell the police that they a 16-gigabyte SD card that had been in phone at the time it was dropped off, had an seemingly been replaced by an 8-gigabyte SD card.
The accuser reported to the police that the missing SD card contained nude photographs.
The victim claims that they contacted Colvin repeatedly but were unable to ever retrieve their original 16-gigabyte SD card.
In the state of Wyoming an individual who is convicted of felony Unauthorized Computer Access can face up to 10 years in prison and/or a $10,000 fine.
All of those cited or arrested are presumed innocent until convicted in a court of law. Charges are subject to change following official filings from the Laramie County District Attorney’s Office.
