The California kid once celebrated as a pint-sized hacking whiz is now behind bars after authorities accused him of plastering South Bay homes with antisemitic graffiti.
Kristoffer Wilheim Vonhassel, 18, was booked Tuesday on 12 suspected offenses tied to vandalism in Imperial Beach, including six counts alleging property damage motivated by civil-rights violations, according to the San Diego County Sheriff’s Office.
But his parents are fighting the allegations, denying any wrongdoing by their son and saying neither he nor they harbor hateful or antisemitic beliefs.
“We’ll be fighting this case,” his mother said in a phone interview Tuesday evening with the San Diego Union-Tribune.
She provided only her first name and asked not to be named, citing concerns that the entire family could be targeted because of the allegations against her son.
“We’re concerned how this will impact his future,” she added.
The parents said they had not yet hired an attorney to represent their son.
“He’s never gotten in trouble like this before,” von Hassel’s father said. “Just look what he did with Microsoft when he was 5.”
That childhood episode made Vonhassel an international curiosity.
At just the age of 5, he discovered a way around a password barrier on his father’s Xbox One after his parents noticed him accessing his father’s Xbox Live account and playing games he was not supposed to play.
When his father, Robert Davies, asked how he had managed it, the boy demonstrated that entering an incorrect password led to another verification screen — where he entered several spaces and pressed enter, gaining access.
Microsoft subsequently recognized the young Vonhassel as a “Security Researcher” and rewarded him with four games, a one-year Xbox Live subscription and $50.
CNN dubbed him a “boy genius.”
More than a decade later, authorities say surveillance footage helped identify Vonhassel as the suspected perpetrator behind graffiti found on Imperial Beach homes.
The markings, apparently made with a black permanent marker, were discovered Sept. 13 on Seacoast Drive and Elm Avenue.
Six days later, similar hate-oriented tagging appeared in an alley behind the Elm Avenue residence, officials said.
Vonhassel was arrested at about 3 a.m. Tuesday on an access road where the more recent vandalism occurred.
At the time of his arrest, he “was found in possession of a hand-held electronic device capable of interacting with and analyzing certain wireless signals, including those used by some garage doors, gates and other access systems,” according to Lt. Chris Galve.
His mother later identified the device as a Flipper Zero.
“The Sheriff’s Office maintains a zero-tolerance policy for hate- motivated crimes and remains committed to dedicating resources to protect public safety,” Galve said in a press release.
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