The deputy director of the Hudson County Correctional Facility was
sentenced today to 21 months in prison for illegally wiretapping his co-workers and another individual, U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman announced.
Kirk Eady, 47, of East Brunswick, was previously found guilty of one count of intentionally intercepting communications of others following a four-day trial in March before Judge Jose L. Linares, who imposed the sentence today in Newark federal court.
According to documents filed in the case and evidence at trial, from March 2012 to July of that year, the jail official used a website on more than 10 occasions to intercept the telephone calls of other Hudson County Correctional Facility employees and another individual who were critical of his work performance.
Using a program called the "Evil Operator," Eady concealed the number from which the call originated. He then called two of the employees at the same time, making it appear that one or both of the other individuals initiated the call.
Eady also recorded these telephone conversations and never told the other employees he was recording the private communications. These individuals did not consent to their private conversations being monitored and recorded by Eady.
Corrections Officer Latania Freeman, who described herself and Eady as being best friends, testified during the trial that Eady told her he was recording personal calls of people representing corrections officers at the jail.
When the FBI knocked on her door, she agreed to record her conversations with Eady for the feds.
In one of the calls she recorded for the FBI, the jury heard Eady say in his own words, "It's a program called Prank Dial and so it's another app within an app and (with) that app I can listen to people talk. ... It's called Evil Operator. It's meant as a f----ing joke, but I used that app as a great resource, two people talking, you know what I'm saying?"
In addition to the prison term, Linares sentenced Eady to three years of supervised release.
U.S. Attorney Fishman credited special agents of the FBI, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Richard M. Frankel in Newark, with the investigation leading to today's sentencing.
The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney David L. Foster of the U.S. Attorney's Office Special Prosecution Division.