An ISU student was charged Tuesday with an irregular case of electronic intrusion into another student’s e-mail account, ISU Police said.

Nicholas Jensen, 2291 Friley Hall and freshman in computer engineering, was charged with electronic and mechanical eavesdropping, unauthorized computer access and harassment, said ISU Police Capt. Gene Deisinger.

On several occasions this semester, a student in Friley Hall hacked into the accounts of Tyler Rasmussen, 223 Lynn Ave., and used his e-mail account to add comments to outgoing messages he had sent, Deisinger said. Rasmussen, sophomore in pre-computer science, and Jensen were roommates last semester in Friley Hall.

On Jan. 5, Rasmussen called ISU Police and said someone was using his account to e-mail messages containing false information, Deisinger said.

He said the first e-mail was to his pastor discussing a “spiritual and exploratory message.” The student, using Rasmussen’s password, hacked into his mail account and added text that could hurt Rasmussen’s reputation, Deisinger said.

That message was sent to everyone in Rasmussen’s address list — at least 45 people, Deisinger said.

Rasmussen could not be reached for comment for this article.

Deisinger said the student responsible for the e-mails could be charged with eavesdropping because he accessed the account and changed the context of an e-mail message.

Just accessing the account, but not reading or changing anything, would have made the charge less severe. The charge of electronic and mechanical eavesdropping is not common, Deisinger said.

Jensen was arrested at the Union Drive Marketplace on Tuesday afternoon after police searched his campus residence and permanent address in Ames, 1107 N. 2nd St., Deisinger said. Computers and media storage devices used to access and modify messages were confiscated from both locations, Deisinger said.

As part of the search warrant used at Friley Hall, Randall Scheiner, Jensen’s roommate, was arrested on warrants for possession of a controlled substance and possession of marijuana and drug paraphernalia, Deisinger said.

“I really don’t think it’s that big of a deal,” said Scheiner, junior in animal ecology. “It’s ridiculous. It really is.”

Scheiner said Jensen was asked to leave Friley Hall after he was arrested. Attempts to contact Jensen were unsuccessful.

Mike Bowman, assistant director of Academic Information Technologies, said impersonating someone over the computer can be done both with and without the person’s password, depending on the e-mail service being used.

“There is definitely a hacker community,” Bowman said.

Bowman said e-mails can be hacked into with the return or sender address.

Jensen is being held on a bond of $4,325 at the Story County Jail.