JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A Duval County circuit court judge has been exposed as a user in the Ashley Madison hack and now that judge, Waddell Wallace, has issued a statement.
Judge Waddell Wallace admitted to News4Jax on Tuesday that he did access the site because he was curious. While he wouldn't grant an interview, he did send a statement only to News4Jax:
"I acknowledge that I have accessed the Ashley Madison website and did so out of curiosity. I never accessed the site from a government email account, nor did I do so during working hours.
"In accessing the site, I never intended to, nor did I ever have an affair. I never revealed my identity to anyone, nor did I discover the identity of anyone.
"I have acknowledged this indiscretion to my wife and I have apologized. I am grateful she accepted my apology.
"I sincerely apologize to the public and my friends and colleagues for any embarrassment arising from my action.
"I want to assure everyone concerned that the disclosure has not affected my judicial duties. No one has attempted to influence me in my judicial duties because of my access to this site."
"I will continue to serve the community with diligence, competence and fairness."
The man who uncovered Wallace's account is a South Florida IT specialist who said he went through the leaked list looking specifically for names of state attorneys or judges.
"I'm a civic activist and it's a concern that I have, obviously, with judicial individuals. Because I believe there could be people that may leverage this information against an outcome of something that gets presented before a judge," Andrew Ladanowski, information technology specialist, said.
Ladanowski added that so far he's only found Wallace's name, as well as the name of an Orange County state attorney, Jeff Ashton. He said he does not know Judge Wallace and has no link to Jacksonville; he just wanted to protect the integrity of Florida's justice system.