By Dan Horn
The Cincinnati Enquirer

FBI agents declined again Tuesday to confirm that computer hacker Jesse Tuttle was working with them when he broke into Hamilton County's computer network in May.

But despite their public silence, FBI agents and federal prosecutors met behind closed doors for nearly 30 minutes Tuesday with the county judge presiding over Tuttle's case.

Tuttle's lawyer, Firooz Namei, said the FBI attended the meeting because Tuttle has been a paid informant for federal authorities for nearly two years. He said his client provided information about vulnerable computer systems in exchange for cash payments of up to $1,000 at a time.

Namei said federal prosecutors and FBI agents indicated Tuesday that they would be willing to publicly confirm Tuttle's links to the agency if his case goes to trial.

County officials, however, say he is a criminal regardless of whatever work he may have done for the FBI.

Tuttle, a hacker known as "Hackah Jak," is charged with breaking into the county's computer network and is accused of storing child pornography on his home computer.

Namei said the FBI's involvement in the case is crucial because all of those allegations can be explained by Tuttle's work with federal authorities.

Namei said some of those reports involved child pornography and that is why images of pornography may have been stored on his computer. And at no time, he said, did he harm the county's system or any other government site.

FBI officials would not comment on the case and have said they do not discuss relationships with informants as a matter of policy. But court documents and other sources indicate a link between Tuttle and federal authorities.

In 2001, he signed an agreement to provide information to federal authorities as part of a deal that helped him avoid prosecution on hacking charges. His former attorney, C. Ransom Hudson, has said the FBI intended to continue working with Tuttle and at one point even purchased a new CD burner for him.

Namei also has produced a copy of an e-mail exchange between Tuttle and FBI agent Bennie Boustamante, with whom Tuttle claims to have worked for nearly two years.

The FBI would not confirm the authenticity of the e-mail

E-mail dhorn@enquirer.com