Ryan Cleary, the 19 year old man who was arrested earlier this week in an operation related to the LulzSec hacking group, was revealed to have Asperger's syndrome. The revelation came about in a court hearing on his case today in the UK, according to an article on the BBC web site. Cleary, who lives in Wickford, Essex was taken into custody earlier this week with prosecutors claiming that he set up a denial of service attack on the Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) on June 20 along with a number of other cyber attacks. So far Cleary has not given a plea to the charges.
Cleary's lawyer stated that his client Cleary has Asperger's along with agoraphobia. While Cleary was given bail the case's prosecutors objected to him leaving custody. His lawyer, however, feels that while Cleary is smart his medical conditions make it hard for Cleary to interact with others. Despite this move prosecutors stood their ground and refused to change their stance. The bail appeal will be heard on August 30. Even if Cleary makes bail and is freed until his trial he will be forbidden to access the Internet and will have to stay at his home.
Cleary was arrested as part of a joint operation between the US's FBI and the UK's Scotland Yard law enforcement groups. The two organizations are conducting a probe into the LulzSec hacker group. LulzSec has officially denied that Cleary is part of their group although he has hosted one of LulzSec's chat rooms on his IRC server.
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