A former IT employee of the Indianapolis-based American College of Education demanded US$200,000 to unlock a system on which he allegedly changed passwords before leaving, according to a report at the IndyStar website.
Triano Williams was sacked by the college in April last year after he refused to move to Indianapolis after the college had decided to ask all its IT staff to move to one location. Williams is based in suburban Chicago.
Before he finished up at the college, Williams allegedly changed the admin password on the college's email account which it was running via Gmail.
The college then filed a lawsuit, claiming that students could not access their email accounts as Google has locked the entire account after numerous failed logins into the admin account.
{loadposition sam08}When Williams was contacted, the report says, he asked the college to get in touch with his lawyer who sent the institution a letter stating: "In order to amicably settle this dispute, Mr. Williams requires a clean letter of reference and payment of US$200,000."
Williams told the school that the admin password had been saved on a laptop that he had returned when he left his job. He failed to appear at hearings numerous times.
In his absence, he was ordered in September to pay the college US$248,350 as damages.
After an IndyStar reporter contacted Google about the incident, the company unlocked the account, according to college officials.