Man Charged With Sending Lewd E-Mails

Suspect Is Accused of Posing As St. Mary's Superintendent In Notes to School Officials

A former St. Mary's County school system employee was charged last week with sending lewd e-mail messages to two school officials while posing as Superintendent Michael J. Martirano.

Brian L. Still, 45, of Issue is accused of harassing Board of Education member Mary M. Washington and Esperanza Middle School Principal Jill Snyder-Mills from Martirano's e-mail address, through a process known as "spoofing." Spoofing, commonly used to send spam, changes the "from" line in an e-mail to appear as though it were sent from a different address.

Still worked for the school system from January 1995 until August 2005, most recently as supervisor of design and construction, said F. Michael Wyant, supervisor of safety and security for the school system.

Still admitted to police that he sent the e-mails, court records indicate.

He faces three counts of electronic mail harassment in St. Mary's District Court, punishable by up to three years in jail and a $1,500 fine.

Charging documents say that Still sent an e-mail Dec. 13 to Snyder-Mills from what appeared to be Martirano's school system e-mail address. The e-mail expressed the author's attraction to Snyder-Mills and attempted to set up a date or a phone call. It also referred to Martirano's sex life, St. Mary's Detective William Raddatz said.

On Dec. 17, Still allegedly sent an e-mail to Washington under Martirano's name. The e-mail referred to Washington, who is black, using a racial slur and made explicit sexual comments about acts he planned to perform on her.

Court records indicate the victims contacted Martirano's office when they received the e-mails. Some of the messages bounced back to Martirano's inbox, alerting him to the breach.

Still suggested to investigators that he was familiar with all three school officials, saying he had "obsessed" over how to annoy Mills and "pick on her." He told Raddatz, according to the records, that he did not like Martirano, referring to him as a "used-car salesman." Washington, Still said, is a nice woman and didn't deserve the lewd e-mail, court documents say.

Wyant said that school officials have significant security measures protecting e-mail addresses and confidential information but that "spoofing" attacks are nearly impossible to prevent, because they masquerade as legitimate e-mails.

"This came from outside our internal structure, just as if a member of the public sent a school employee an e-mail," Wyant said. "We take security very seriously."

Still did not respond to a phone message left at his home in Charles County.