Police: Ex-worker disabled cars via Web

Austin police said Omar Ramos-Lopez, 20, who was fired from his position as a collector for Texas Auto Center in January, used his home computer March 2 to access the dealership's Web site and disable the engines and activate the horns of more than 100 vehicles sold by the business, the Austin American-Statesman reported Thursday.

"He was the collector for Texas Auto Center, so he had the password and all the necessary requirements to get into the system and manipulate the vehicles," Sgt. Keith Bazzle said.

The system is in place so the dealership can deactivate vehicles when customers fail to make payments, company officials said. They said further security measures are being implemented to prevent similar incidents in the future.

Ramos-Lopez was arrested Wednesday after police traced his computer's IP address. He was charged with felony breach of computer security and jailed in lieu of $3,000 bail.

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