A private investigator named Jordan Hamlett is heading to trial next month in Louisiana for allegedly attempting to illegally obtain President Trump’s income tax returns. Hamlett’s defense attorney says he’s a well-intentioned white hat hacker engaged in ethical acts, who was trying to notify the IRS that its system was vulnerable. He now faces up to five years in prison.

Whether his motivation was good or bad, Hamlett’s hacking skills apparently weren’t great. Court records suggest he disregarded basic lessons of Hacking 101: First, don’t use your personal cell phone when penetration-testing the federal government; and second, don’t immediately confess when FBI and IRS agents engage you in a conversation in the lobby of an Embassy Suites hotel in Baton Rouge. Despite his rookie mistakes, Hamlett reportedly came close to getting the president’s personal tax information. And that says a lot.

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