Computer Tech Who Allegedly Spied on Ex Has Some Charges Dropped

When Joseph Tarr comes before a judge in Doylestown, he is expected to plead guilty to harassment and two counts of intercepting communications, according to court sources.

In return, the district attorney’s office dropped charges of  unlawful use of a computer, computer trespass, computer theft and stalking this week in district court.

The 30-year-old Doylestown resident and computer technician at the Pennsbury School District is accused of using software to spy on his ex-girlfriend, a Middletown resident, through her computer.

Tarr built and serviced his ex-girlfriend’s computer in 2008, which is two years after the couple broke up, Middletown police said.

According to court records, Tarr’s ex-girlfriend, who is the mother of his child, noticed on March 17 that there were two usernames on her computer. She investigated further and one said it was “logged in remotely from J01.”

Tarr denied any knowledge of remote access when his ex-girlfriend called and confronted him, court papers say.

A computer-savvy friend was called by the woman and told her how to block further attempts of remote access, police said. They added that the woman saw there were failed remote log in attempts and the woman was close to finding data on the computer when a new user account was created and blocked her access.

Eventually, the woman unplugged the computer in an attempt to stop the person from getting access to her computer, court papers say.

The woman then confronted Tarr again over the phone and he admitted to accessing  her computer furtively  and he watched and listened in on her using the system’s built-in webcam and microphone, court papers say.

Police noted in court papers that Tarr denied to his ex-girlfriend in a text conversation to accessing computer from his job in the school district.

“A forensic examination of [the woman’s] computer showed that it contained two administrator accounts that [the woman] advised did not belong to her and that she was  not aware of this  prior to March 17,” Detective Andrew Amoroso wrote in an affidavit of probable cause filed against Tarr.

Tarr is currently free on bail.