MEMPHIS, Tenn. — A former intern for a Shelby County court judge was arrested and placed behind bars herself.
Police said Briana Brooks used the judge’s computer to hack into his bank accounts and steal money.
Another court intern WREG spoke with, Lydia Robertson, was afraid this will make other teens look bad.
Robertson told WREG she was working as an intern at 201 with the Human Resources Department.
“I love it,” she gushed. “It’s the best time of my life!”
She said it provided her with work experience and helped her decide on a career.
“I want to go to Indiana University for criminal justice. So, it’s helping me a lot to decide if I want to follow that path or do something different,” she said.
Robertson said, with limited opportunities available to Memphis teens, she was angry to hear someone may have taken advantage of their internship.
“It’s kind of rough because then they expect us to do it, and that’s not right. Most of us aren’t like that, me included,” she said.
Police said 18-year-old Brooks used a the computer of the divorce referee she was interning under, Cary Woods, to hack into his bank accounts and steal more than $700.
They found out about it after another wire transfer was declined.
“In today’s world with the computers and everything, everybody hacks into everything anyway,” one woman said shaking her head.
Court officials, including Woods, would not talk to WREG about Brooks because of the pending criminal charges against her, but said she became an intern through a program sponsored by the Memphis Bar Association.
Calls to the Memphis Bar Association were not returned.
WREG learned Brooks interned for Woods’ office last year as well, and she was paid.
Robertson said she hoped people would not judge all Memphis interns based on Brooks’ charges.
“I want you to see that we do good things, and everyone isn’t bad,” she said.
WREG also uncovered Brooks was a suspect in a credit card fraud investigation in Jackson.
Jackson police have been trying to track her down and just learned from WREG that she was in Memphis Police’s custody.
She was scheduled to be back in court on July 1.