Emilio Herrera, a young man the FBI says, “lives alone with parents,” has been named in an ongoing investigation into leaked naked celebrity photos.
Last October, the FBI traced the source of the “nude” celebrity leaks to the 30-year-old Chicago resident, whose South Side home matched the IP address linked to email accounts in his name — the same accounts used to release hundreds of nude or compromising images of celebrities dumped onto open forums which later flooded the internet last year.
Stars like Jennifer Lawrence, Kate Upton, Jill Scott, Meagan Good, Gabrielle Union, Rihanna and more were affected by the hack. But it didn’t stop there. The FBI has revealed that hundreds more people have fallen victim to the hacker.
And while Herrera has not been named a suspect, authorities say it is very possible that his residence could have been used as a front for another hacker accessing private iCloud accounts. When FBI agents raided the house, they discovered computers which had been used to hack a total of 572 accounts, many belonging to celebrities and their associates. Several accounts were targeted on average, six times each.
The IP address that led authorities to Herrera’s home was also used in 5,000 attempts to reset 1,987 other iCloud passwords, according to NBC.
Although very little is known about Herrera, it is understood that he lives at home with his parents Jesus and Carmen, both in their early 60s. The Herrera’s have been a part of their community since 1990 when they purchased their home for $71,000.
The investigation is still ongoing, but at this rate, the FBI seems to have some viable leads.
