Your right... Childs thought the network was "his"... he was wrong. The passwords are intellectual property and as such he isnt allowed to keep it. He is however allowed to "forget" the passwords. Then there would have been nothing they could have done to him. His problem was he had an ego, and that ego will get him time in prison. In short, the guy mad a bad judgement call based oh his miscalculated self importance. He deliberately and purposely hid intellectual property. It has been in every employment agreement I have ever signed that you must surrender all passwords, notes, documents, sketches upon termination. Everything you design and implement on company time and on company systems is company property. That includes the passwords. Oh well. Looks like he will learn the hard way to read what you sign.