Somerville man wanted for disrupting Children's Hospital computer network was rescued from small boat off Cuban coast

The US Attorney's office reports the arrest of Martin Gottesfeld, 31, on charges he worked with the group Anonymous to disrupt the Children's Hospital computer network over its handling of the Justina Pelletier case.

Gottesfield and his wife were rescued from a small boat off the coast of Cuba by a passing Disney cruise ship after they issued a distress call when their boat's engine failed, the US Attorney's office reports, adding he was then arrested when the ship docked in Miami:

Martin Gottesfeld, 31, had been aware of a federal investigation since October 2014, when the FBI searched his home in relation to a computer attack on the hospital network. Last week, the Somerville Police Department conducted a wellness check at the Gottesfeld’s apartment after receiving calls from his employer and from relatives concerned about his whereabouts. It is alleged that Mr. Gottesfeld had not been to work, nor had he or his wife had any contact with family members in several weeks. The police found no one home at his apartment.

On Tuesday, February 16th, the FBI in Boston was notified by their counterparts in the Bahamas that Gottesfeld and his wife were not registered guests on the ship, but rather had been picked up by the cruise ship near Cuba, following a distress call. Mr. Gottesfeld was arrested when the cruise ship returned to its Miami port this morning.

Gottesfeld was charged in a criminal complaint unsealed today in U.S. District Court in Boston with one count of conspiracy. According to the affidavit, the computer attack, which disrupted the hospital’s network for approximately a week, was launched in the name of hacking group Anonymous in an effort to affect the hospital’s handling of a teenage patient (“Patient A”), who was the subject of a high-profile custody battle between her parents and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

Innocent, etc.