Hackers Threaten Madison Police Chief

Chief John Trevena on Thursday was the target of an apparent extortion hoax via email.

The perpetrators allegedly hacked into the email account of a Maplewood attorney and emailed a threat to Trevena, copying several borough officials as well as Patch. Trevena told Patch that the email demanded payment of $290,000 within one week or the information about his alleged criminal activity would be disclosed to town officials. 

After receiving the email, Trevena contacted the mayor, borough administrator, Maplewood police and the Morris County Prosecutors Office. He said that the prosecutors office told Trevena the threat was a hoax and had been informed of several prior incidents, and that the hackers had been traced to eastern Canada. Trevena said Maplewood police told him they had collected numerous other examples of similar email threats.

The Morris County prosecutor had no further information on the incident.

Trevena said he did not know why he was targeted.

Calls to the Essex county prosecutors as well as to the Maplewood attorney were not immediately returned.