(JAILED) U.S. Tor Operator Persecuted by FBI After Refusing Decrypt Requests
Hello Tor-Relays Community, I’m writing to you because my husband, Conrad Rockenhaus, was a member of your community. He was a long-time Tor relay operator, and he is now in serious danger. I believe you are one of the few groups who will truly understand why. Conrad’s ordeal began when he refused to help the FBI decrypt traffic from his exit nodes. Months later, the government arrested him. Their official reason was a minor, non-violent CFAA charge from a workplace dispute that had nothing to do with Tor. He was convicted of a single count (taking down the network of his former employer, Apple Leisure Group, after they fired their U.S. DevOps team to replace them with cheaper overseas hires). In fact, the statute of limitations was a couple of months from expiration. They clearly used this old charge as a pretext to target him. This minor charge was used to hold him. A U.S. Probation Officer then lied under oath to keep him jailed (pre trial) for three years. She claimed he installed a "Linux OS called Spice" to access the "dark web" and hide his activity. This was a technical lie. The software was just a standard SPICE graphics driver for his Ph.D. program. It was not an operating system and could not disable their monitoring. He now faces retaliation from U.S. Probation in Michigan. They have used fraudulent warrants to jail him again. He is currently in a county jail with a severe head injury from his arrest and has been denied a lawyer, a violation of his constitutional rights. This is a documented case of the government twisting technical facts to prosecute a member of your community. I am not asking for money. I am asking you to please help amplify his story. You understand the technical truth and why this fight is so important. We have all the evidence documented, including the court transcripts and fraudulent warrants. You can see everything here: https://rockenhaus.com Thank you for your time and for everything you do for privacy online. Sincerely, Adrienne Rockenhaus https://x.com/adezero
Am 15.09.2025 um 16:31:23 Uhr schrieb Adrienne Rockenhaus via tor-relays:
I’m writing to you because my husband, Conrad Rockenhaus, was a member of your community. He was a long-time Tor relay operator, and he is now in serious danger. I believe you are one of the few groups who will truly understand why.
Is the fingerprint of his relay known? Did they shut it down or take it over? -- kind Marco Send unsolicited bulk mail to 1757946683muell@cartoonies.org
Fortunately, this case appears to have very little if anything to do with Tor, but a parole violation; from what's alleged and recorded in PACER, Conrad... 1. Admitting to using cannabis during supervised release 2. Failed to make scheduled restitution payments and to cooperate with the financial investigation that sets restitution payment amounts. 3. Fell out of contact with his probation officer, who attempted home visits to find him. 4. Opened several new lines of credit. 5. Used an unauthorized iPhone (all his Internet devices apparently have keyloggers as a condition of his release). 6. Attempted to circumvent the logging software via the SPICE protocol/software. https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/69848942/united-states-v-rockenhaus/ https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/66960649/united-states-v-rockenhaus/ https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/16517474/united-states-v-rockenhaus/
To answer your second point first, the relay was not seized or taken over by the government. It went offline organically after my husband was wrongfully incarcerated for three years in Texas and could no longer maintain the server or pay the bills. Regarding the fingerprint, I am looking into how to find it in the public archives now and will provide it if I can locate it. On Tue, Sep 16, 2025 at 12:38 PM Marco Moock via tor-relays < tor-relays@lists.torproject.org> wrote:
Am 15.09.2025 um 16:31:23 Uhr schrieb Adrienne Rockenhaus via tor-relays:
I’m writing to you because my husband, Conrad Rockenhaus, was a member of your community. He was a long-time Tor relay operator, and he is now in serious danger. I believe you are one of the few groups who will truly understand why.
Is the fingerprint of his relay known? Did they shut it down or take it over?
-- kind Marco
Send unsolicited bulk mail to 1757946683muell@cartoonies.org _______________________________________________ tor-relays mailing list -- tor-relays@lists.torproject.org To unsubscribe send an email to tor-relays-leave@lists.torproject.org
Thank you for engaging with the case. The list of violations you've posted is an accurate summary of the government's official, but fraudulent, narrative. The core of our case is that every single one of those allegations was manufactured as part of a documented retaliation campaign. Here are the facts from the public record: 1. Cannabis Use: A misleading omission. My husband has a legal prescription for Marinol for his combat-related PTSD, a fact the probation office deliberately withheld. 2. Failed Restitution: A lie. He was paying the agreed-upon amount. We have the government's own payment receipts. The probation officers manufactured a new, impossible payment amount to create a violation. 3. Fell Out of Contact: A lie. He was hospitalized in a VA facility, and we have text messages proving the probation office knew his exact location when they filed a fraudulent "absconder" warrant. 4. Opened New Credit: A lie. This was identity theft, for which we filed a formal police report. They tried to punish him for being the victim of a crime. 5. Used Unauthorized iPhone: A lie of omission. The phone was his authorized work device, issued by me, his formally approved employer under his first, stable PO. 6. Circumvented Logging w/ SPICE: A lie built on perjury. SPICE was pre-approved software for his Ph.D. program. A U.S. Probation Officer committed perjury by calling this graphics driver a "Linux operating system" in court to invent a crime. We have the transcript of her testimony. This case has everything to do with Tor. This retaliation campaign in Michigan began only after I filed a formal misconduct complaint against a federal officer. That complaint was necessary because of the hostile environment created after the government's initial pretextual prosecution in Texas, a prosecution that began only after my husband refused to help the FBI decrypt traffic on his Tor exit node. This is not a simple parole violation. It is a multi-year campaign of government corruption originating from his work as a Tor operator. On Tue, Sep 16, 2025 at 4:14 PM cecelia.bringle--- via tor-relays < tor-relays@lists.torproject.org> wrote:
Fortunately, this case appears to have very little if anything to do with Tor, but a parole violation; from what's alleged and recorded in PACER, Conrad...
1. Admitting to using cannabis during supervised release 2. Failed to make scheduled restitution payments and to cooperate with the financial investigation that sets restitution payment amounts. 3. Fell out of contact with his probation officer, who attempted home visits to find him. 4. Opened several new lines of credit. 5. Used an unauthorized iPhone (all his Internet devices apparently have keyloggers as a condition of his release). 6. Attempted to circumvent the logging software via the SPICE protocol/software.
https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/69848942/united-states-v-rockenhaus/ https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/66960649/united-states-v-rockenhaus/ https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/16517474/united-states-v-rockenhaus/ _______________________________________________ tor-relays mailing list -- tor-relays@lists.torproject.org To unsubscribe send an email to tor-relays-leave@lists.torproject.org
participants (3)
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Adrienne Rockenhaus -
cecelia.bringle＠tmail.link -
Marco Moock