Florida teen Jose Bautista charged with hacking school's computer system to change grades

MIAMI, May 5 (UPI) -- An 18-year-old Miami student is facing felony charges after allegedly hacking into his high school's computer system and changing grades for himself and four other students.

Jose Bautista, a senior at Dr. Michael M. Krop Senior High School, allegedly broke into the principal’s office and used his computer to change the grades in exchange for money.

Bautista was arrested by Miami-Dade County Schools Police and charged with four counts of intellectual property crimes for modifying a program and four counts of modifying computer user data, all felonies.

"If it is true, it's definitely not fair to the rest of the students," senior Brett Curtis told NBC 6. "We have almost 3,000 kids here who come to school every day and work hard for every single grade that they earn."

According to the school’s principal, Bautista gave him a written confession.

“The school district takes incidents like this very seriously,” Miami-Dade Schools said in a statement. “In addition to the arrest and ongoing criminal investigation, the Code of Student Conduct provides for corrective strategies up to and including recommendation for expulsion.”

A judge placed Bautista on house arrest and ordered the teen to wear a GPS monitor.