Man facing charges after allegedly taking control of Centre County race website
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Volunteer web designer charged after allegedly seizing control of race website
- Dispute over redesign led to outage and fundraising challenges
- He faces three felony computer charges
A volunteer web designer was charged Friday with seizing control of a long-running Centre County race website after he was granted access to help redesign it.
Nicholas K. Bodner, 28, of College Township, is accused of taking over the Tussey Mountainback website after he and the races’ founder could not agree on changes to the site.
In operation since 2003, the organization used the website and the races to fundraise for different nonprofits in Centre County. Ferguson Township police said in an affidavit of probable cause that Bodner offered in November 2023 to revamp the site.
The organization agreed with Bodner’s suggestion to transfer the domain to a different website host, but police said the two found little other common ground for about a year.
An officer said the races’ founder asked in February for access codes and other relevant information to activate the website, but Bodner allegedly refused. The website was not in service as of noon Friday.
The organization told police they’ve since been unable to effectively advertise for the annual races, which has limited the number of racers and sponsors. It also had to spend money — the charging document didn’t detail how much — to create a new website.
Bodner declined to speak with an officer without an attorney, police wrote. Defense lawyer Carolyn Larrabee declined comment Friday.
Bodner is charged with felony counts of disruption of service, computer theft and computer trespassing. He remains free after District Judge Casey McClain set bail Friday at $5,000 unsecured. His preliminary hearing is scheduled for Wednesday.
This story was originally published December 5, 2025 at 1:27 PM.