Jailed 'Iceman' hacker charged with drone-smuggling scheme orchestrated from behind bars

By Andrew Blake - The Washington Times - Saturday, December 1, 2018

Max Ray Vision, an incarcerated computer hacker serving a record-setting prison sentence in federal custody, has been hit with new charges connected to an elaborate ploy to smuggle contraband into a Louisiana correctional facility.

Previously known as Max Ray Butler and by his hacker alias, “Iceman,” Vision has been charged in a nine-count indictment filed by federal prosecutors that places him at the center of a scheme that allegedly involved using a smuggled cellphone, stolen banking data and a consumer-grade drone to make an airdrop into prison, The Daily Beast first reported Friday.

Vision, 46, pleaded not guilty to the charges during an arraignment last month in Lake Charles, Louisiana, according to his case docket. A hearing in his case has been set for Dec. 20.

Prosecutors alleged in the indictment that Vision used smuggled a T-Mobile “My-Touch” cellphone while incarcerated at the Federal Correctional Center in Oakdale, Louisiana, to access the internet and obtain stolen debit card numbers.

“Using MoneyGram and Western Union websites, and their respective mobile applications,” a grand jury charged in the indictment, “Butler wired funds from the bank accounts associated with the stolen debit card numbers to other inmates at Oakdale FCC,” including five co-defendants also charged in the indictment.

He later instructed his fellow inmates to transfer the funds obtained from the stolen debit cards to a former cellmate who had been released in May 2015, according to the indictment.