From the transcript of United States of America v. Robert M. Patterson, a trial held in April 1996 at the U.S. District Court in Memphis. Patterson, who worked for the Internal Revenue Service from 1985 until 1996, was charged with illegally accessing and reading tax records. Patterson told investigators that the regular duties of his job, which involved entering taxpayer names and other information into a computer, “began to get old” and that accessing the accounts “kept me sane.” Patterson was questioned by his attorney, Beth Brooks; he was later acquitted of the charges.

beth brooks:…