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Dr. Chaos

Dr. Chaos is a Criminal Who was Incarcerated at the Supermax Prison ADX Florence for Causing 28 Power Failures and Hoarding a Large Amount of Cyanide. He was Released on September 2019.

From 1998 to 2001, a computer system administrator turned terrorist caused havoc in Wisconsin. One of his terrorist acts included an attack on the city’s power grid. He ignited buildings, disrupted transmission towers, disabled air traffic control software, and caused headaches for an Internet Service Provider with the help of people he recruited from the Internet called himself Dr. Chaos. But did you know he was released?

Dr. Chaos is a criminal who was incarcerated at the ADX Florence supermax prison for causing 28 power outages and hoarding large amounts of cyanide. He was released on September 8, 2019, after serving 20 years in prison.

Who is Dr. Chaos?

Joseph Konopka, a former computer systems administrator, used the Internet to find a group of young followers. He dubbed this organization The Realm of Ch@os. This organization was to blame for 28 power outages and 20 other service interruptions at various Wisconsin power plants. They also set fire to a radio and television broadcast, disabled an air traffic control system, sold bootlegged software, and damaged the computer system of an Internet service provider.

Konopka and his group were found to have committed more than 50 acts in various Wisconsin counties, affecting over 30,000 power customers and causing more than $800,000 in damage.

Konopka was also a member of the Chicago chapter of 2600, a hacker organization that publishes a magazine and hosts gatherings and an annual national conference. The FBI came to the Chicago chapter’s meeting in 2002 and questioned members about their knowledge of Konopka. (Source: Alchetron

When was Dr. Chaos Arrested?

Konopka, 25, was arrested by University of Illinois at Chicago police in 2002 for trespassing in the underground tunnel system beneath the UIC east campus. Konopka was arrested after officers discovered a small vial of white powder in his possession; tests revealed that the powder was sodium cyanide.

Konopka was discovered to be stockpiling potassium cyanide and sodium cyanide in an unused Chicago Transit Authority storeroom on the Chicago ‘L’ Blue Line subway. Konopka had picked the locks on several tunnel doors, then changed the locks so that he could freely access the unused rooms. Konopka had briefly joined a Chicago-area urban exploration group to obtain information on accessing the city’s vast network of new tunnels and abandoned spaces and entice juveniles to assist him. The cyanide had been stolen from a secure warehouse on Chicago’s South Side that a water treatment company had previously owned. (Source: Alchetron

What were the Consequences of Dr. Chaos’ Actions?

Konopka was sentenced to 13 years in prison on March 12, 2003, for concealing deadly cyanide in a Chicago subway tunnel. When questioned by the US, Konopka explained to District Judge Wayne R. Andersen why he had gone on his vandalism spree : 

I don’t have a real good reason.

Joseph Konopka, Dr. Chaos

Konopka’s behavior, according to defense attorney Matthew Madden, it stems from an abnormal maturation process.

Konopka was sentenced to 21 years in prison by Judge Lynn S. Adelman in 2004 for conspiring to knock out power lines, burn buildings, and damage computers in Wisconsin. Konopka was also ordered to pay over $435,000 in restitution to various victims.

On June 1, 2005, a three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit in Chicago overturned his previous arson and vandalism convictions, ruling that a federal judge should have allowed him to withdraw his guilty plea before sentencing him to 21 years in prison. Konopka was released in 2019 after serving at ADX Florence. (Source: Alchetron

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