Former Omaha Police Officer Sentenced for Improper Computer Searches

United States District Court Judge Joseph F. Bataillon sentenced Kevin Cave, age 36, of Bellevue, Nebraska, following his conviction for exceeding authorized access to a protected computer. Cave was sentenced to three years of probation and fined $8,000.

Cave worked as an Omaha Police Officer and in that capacity had been granted access to the NCJIS (Nebraska Criminal Justice Information System) database. NCJIS is a protected database that links numerous databases together and provides law enforcement officers with a broad range of information on suspects and witnesses. Officers granted access to NCJIS are trained that the database contains sensitive information, is protected from unauthorized disclosures, and can only be searched for legitimate law enforcement purposes. Commencing in approximately March 2010 and continuing up to August 2012, Kevin Cave began conducting unauthorized searches of the NCJIS database looking for information that would assist car dealerships, owned by relatives of his, locate cars for repossession. Cave conducted the improper searches because he was being paid up to $200 for every successful lead he provided. In total, Cave received over $16,000 for having conducted the improper searches.

This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.