Edward Majerczyk is by all accounts an intensely private person, a self-described computer nerd who once referred to himself in a social media post as an "avid indoorsman." 
 
 On Tuesday, the soft-spoken Majerczyk was sentenced to nine months in prison for a breach of privacy that a federal judge called "abhorrent." 
 
 A son of two retired Chicago police officers, Majerczyk, 29, admitted playing a key role in the "Celebgate" hacking scandal that resulted in the online posting of dozens of nude photos of celebrities, including actress Jennifer Lawrence, model Kate Upton and U.S. soccer star Hope Solo. 
 
 In handing down the sentence, U.S. District Judge Charles Kocoras said cyberattacks like the one orchestrated by Majerczyk are a consequence of living in a world that "inspires secrecy and anonymity and intrusion into the affairs of people's private lives." 
 
 "The conduct is abhorrent," Kocoras said. "It's a very, very trying time that we live in." 
 
 In addition to the prison term, Majerczyk was also ordered to pay $5,700 in restitution to cover counseling services for one undisclosed celebrity victim whose images were disseminated online, although he was not accused of posting any of the images himself. 
 
 The nine-month prison term was agreed to by prosecutors and Majerczyk's attorney as part of a plea deal to one count of unauthorized access to a protected computer to obtain information, a charge that carried a maximum sentence of five years in prison. 
 
 Before Kocoras imposed the sentence, Majerczyk, a former Commonwealth Edison customer service representative, gave a brief statement to the court apologizing for causing "people pain and grief" and for bringing embarrassment to his family and friends. 
 
 "I will never stop striving to do better and to be better," said Majerczyk, reading quickly and calmly from a sheet of paper. 
 
 Escorted by his father, Majerczyk, who was ordered to report to prison Feb. 27, left the Dirksen U.S. Courthouse without comment as television news crews trailed him down Dearborn Street. 
 
 In court, Assistant U.S. Attorney Raj Laud said that in addition to celebrities, Majerczyk also targeted "people he came across in his life," something the prosecutor referred to as "troubling." 
 
 Laud said that after Majerczyk pleaded guilty in September, two celebrity victims whose photos were disseminated contacted the U.S. attorney's office seeking restitution for the cost of having their images taken down from various websites. One of the victims also asked to be reimbursed for $11,400 in counseling services she sought after nude images of her went public. 
 
 U.S. authorities investigating the 'Celebgate' photo-hacking scandal have seized computers and cellphones from a small home in Chicago, according to court documents. June 10, 2015. (AP) U.S. authorities investigating the 'Celebgate' photo-hacking scandal have seized computers and cellphones from a small home in Chicago, according to court documents. June 10, 2015. (AP) SEE MORE VIDEOS 
 
 Kocoras said Majerczyk could not be held responsible for the costs to have the images removed but ordered him to pay half of the counseling bill — $5,700. 
 
 Majerczyk, of the Southwest Side, admitted using a phishing scheme to illegally gain access to more than 300 Apple iCloud and Gmail accounts from November 2013 to August 2014, including at least 30 belonging to celebrities in the Los Angeles area. 
 
 According to his plea agreement, Majerczyk sent emails to victims that appeared to be from security accounts of internet service providers seeking the victims' usernames and passwords. For those who provided that private information, he then illegally accessed their email accounts and obtained "personal information including sensitive and private photographs and videos," the plea deal said. 
 
 Majerczyk was not accused of selling the material or posting any of it online himself. A spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office in Los Angeles has said that the investigation into who leaked the sensitive information was ongoing. 
 
 As many as 100 celebrities were targeted as part of Celebgate, including Kirsten Dunst as well as Upton and her boyfriend, Detroit Tigers pitcher Justin Verlander. Many of the embarrassing and intimate photos were posted on websites like Reddit and 4chan. 
 
 Also targeted was the Oscar-winning actress Lawrence, who broke down at a meeting with federal agents in September 2014 about nude photos of her that had been splashed on the internet as part of Celebgate. 
 
 "She became very distraught and I had to stop the interview at one point because of her emotional reaction to the information being discussed," an FBI agent wrote in a court filing about the meeting with Lawrence in Los Angeles. "(She) stated she was having an anxiety attack, and was visibly shaken." 
 
 In an interview with Vanity Fair in 2014, Lawrence called the breach of her privacy a "sex crime." 
 
 "I was just so afraid. I didn't know how this would affect my career," Lawrence told the magazine. "Just because I'm a public figure, just because I'm an actress, does not mean that I asked for this. It does not mean that it comes with the territory." 
 
 Records show agents raided Majerczyk's apartment just a few blocks from Midway Airport on Oct. 15, 2014, about two months after Lawrence had reported that her iCloud account was hacked. Agents seized several desktop and laptop computers, a MacBook and numerous thumb drives, and external hard drives. 
 
 Majerczyk's lawyer, Thomas Needham, has described him as an "intensely private" person. In a court filing last week, Needham wrote that at the time Majerczyk took part in hacking, he was "suffering from depression and looked to pornography websites and internet chat rooms in an attempt to fill some of the voids and disappointment he was feeling in his life." 
 
 Needham said in his sentencing memo that Majerczyk was "deeply affected" by the fallout of the Celebgate scandal and had to see a therapist for anxiety and panic attacks. He also has an 11-year-old son who lives with the boy's mother, Needham said. 
 
 Majerczyk was not the only one facing prison for the scandal. In October, Ryan Collins, 37, of Lancaster, Pa., was sentenced to 18 months in prison for a similar scheme to hack more than 600 celebrity accounts for "his own sexual gratification," court records show. Authorities have said he was working independently of Majerczyk. 
 
 jmeisner@chicagotribune.com| 
 
 Twitter @jmetr22b ||||| Story highlights Edward Majerczyk's plea deal was limited to his role in obtaining images 
 
 Victims were tricked into providing usernames and passwords to a third-party website 
 
 (CNN) A Chicago man was sentenced to nine months in prison in a plea deal Tuesday for hacking the electronic accounts of 30 celebrities and stealing their personal data, including nude photos and videos. 
 
 Edward Majerczyk, 29, was accused of orchestrating a phishing scheme from November 2013 to August 2014 that netted personal information from celebrities including Jennifer Lawrence, Kate Upton and many more in Los Angeles. 
 
 Lawrence likened the privacy invasion to a "sex crime" and said she worried about its impact on her career. 
 
 Majerczyk, the son of two Chicago police officers, did not plead guilty to distributing the images. His plea was limited to his role in obtaining them. 
 
 After his case was transferred from California to Chicago he pleaded guilty in September to one count of unauthorized access to a protected computer to obtain information. 
 
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– The son of two Chicago police officers was sentenced to nine months in prison Tuesday for his role in the "Celebgate" nude photo scandal. Edward Majerczyk, 29, admitted to stealing nude photos and other data from 30 celebrities in a phishing scheme, but his lawyers said "there is no evidence that he shared this information with anyone," per CNN. Still, he was ordered to pay $5,700 to cover counseling for one unnamed victim. Court documents showed Majerczyk possessed material belonging to 300 victims, including Jennifer Lawrence, Kate Upton, and "people he came across in his life," prosecutors say, per the Chicago Tribune.