ΙΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝ»
 Ί  I  LOST MY HUSBAND'S HEART... TO HIS HOME COMPUTER!" says Laura Carr  -- Ί
 Ί who claims her husband Alan became so obsessed with his computer that it  Ί
 Ί led him to jail and destroyed their marriage.                             Ί
 ΘΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΌ
     Alan was arrested  for computer crimes and is now awaiting trial.  And
  their once happy marriage is ending in divorce.
     "Some men lavish love on a mistress -- but my husband showered all  his
  affection  on  his electronic girlfriend," said Laura, a Milwaukee, Wis.,
  psychiatric nurse.
     Former high school sweethearts, Laura and Alan  were  happily  married
  for  13  years.   "He was my best buddy as well as my husband" said Laura,
  35.  "When our daughter was born three  years  ago  we  made  a  beautiful
  family.  Alan loved to take us out.  Life was wonderful."
     But that all  ended two years ago when Alan, also 35, took a job at the
  University of Wisconsin and was able to use the computer lab in his  spare
  time, she said.
     "Suddenly every minute he wasn't working he spent teaching himself to use
  a computer.
     "Next  he  bought his  own computer and then added a modem -- a telephone
  linkup with other computer users and with  computer  billboards,  services
  which offer all kinds of information."
     Soon  Alan  was  focusing  all  his  attention on his computer, she said.
  "Four, five, six hours a night he'd be hunched  over  the  computer.   His
  computer  was always linked up the other computers through the modem, hour
  after hour, day after day.  Our telephone line was constantly busy!
     "Once I tried to call home to tell Alan  I'd  be  staying  later  at  a
  friend's  house,  but  I  couldn't get through on the  phone.  When I came
  home I found out he was so busy with his computer he didn't even notice  I
  wasn't there.
     "In  the  evenings  he  would sit at the computer while I watched TV or
  read to our daughter.  He was in a world of his own.
     "Hour after hour the computer and printer  would  whir  on.   Sometimes
  he's  stay  up  all night while I slept alone.  Other nights he's have the
  computer working through the night amassing information."
     "When I'd finally get him to go out, he was so resentful it was obvious
  he wanted to be at home.  He hated to leave is 'mistress.'
     "I wanted new furniture.  But all our spare  money  was  spent  on  the
  computer, software and supplies.
     "My life was turning into a nightmare.  I was fighting for my husband's
  attention  against  a  piece  of electronic wizardry.  And I was coming in
  second."
     The couple argued often, Laura admitted.   "I  used  to  tell  him  the
  computer  was  destroying our marriage.  We could no longer laugh together
  or love together.  I was angry at the computer.  I hated it."
     Then suddenly last September 30th Laura got  the  shock  of  her  life.
  Police called to tell her Alan was under arrest.
     He was arraigned on charges of committing computer crimes and obtaining
  telecommunications services by fraud, said Assistant District Attorney Jon
  Reddin, head of the Milwaukee District Attorney's white-collor crime unit.
     "According  to  the  allegations,  he  programmed  his computer to gain
  access to a private long-distance telephone company's computer and  obtain
  authorization  codes that enabled him to make free long-distance telephone
  calls, " said Reddin.
     Added Laura, "Alan had never been in trouble with the law before.  He'd
  always been totally honest.  But that machine changed him.   Breaking  the
  rules  with the computer had become a challenge.  Alan faced temptation he
  would never have faced if he had not had a computer.
     "He called me from jail and asked me to bail him  out.   I  said  'No.'
  When  he did get out, I told him our marriage was over.  How we're getting
  a divorce.
     "There's no doubt in  my  mind  what  broke  up  our  marriage  --  the
  computer."

  --Joe Mullins, National Enquirer
  Put to file by Chuck Dearbeck, Power User BBS!