An Assumption College freshman pleaded guilty to federal cyber extortion charges on Friday.

Officials say Matthew Lane, 19, of Sterling, agreed to plead guilty to one count each of cyber extortion conspiracy, cyber extortion, unauthorized access to protected computers, and aggravated identity theft.

According to court filings, between April 2024 and May 2024, Lane and others extorted a $200,000 ransom payment from a telecommunications company and threatened to publicly share customer data that was stolen from the company’s computer network.

Lane will be sentenced in September.

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