David Browne’s Ashley Madison Hack Demise: $167,500-Per-Year Job Lost As Browne Gets Divorced, Burns House

The fallout from the Ashley Madison hacking is still being realized months after the hacking of AshleyMadison.com users exposed approximately 32 million names. As reported by the Inquisitr, there were suicides attributed to the Ashley Madison hacking. There were also the sad reactions from wives who discovered their husbands’ names on the Ashley Madison hacking list. News of lawsuits from exposed Ashley Madison users flooded the web, as well as threats from those who blackmailed Ashley Madison users with further exposure.

Ashley Madison #hack caused David Browne to lose his job, his mind and his wife https://t.co/oo5HZGAbvb

— ????? ???????? (@Sec_Cyber) December 6, 2015

Now, the New York Post profiles a man, named David Browne, who lost his $167,500-per-year job as the district school superintendent of Randolph, New Jersey, in the wake of Browne’s name being exposed on the Ashley Madison hacking list. David also lost his wife after the 55-year-old Browne was exposed for his Ashley Madison activities.

Browne told his wife, Monica, that he, indeed, had an Ashley Madison account. David also confessed the existence of his Ashley Madison account to the school board, after the major hacking on August 20 exposed plenty of other Ashley Madison users. In the wake of that exposure from the Ashley Madison list, David took a leave of absence from his job on a medical basis — and was eventually replaced by September 8. More than one month later, however, it appears that Browne truly went off the rails when David allegedly set fire to his garage on October 13.

Browne’s 45-year-old wife, Monica, filed for divorce on November 23, which was Monica and David’s 14th wedding anniversary. Monica works as a superintendent in Upper Saddle River, while David was put on a paid administrative leave on October 13, the same day that Browne set fire to his Wyckoff Avenue garage. It was nearly 3 p.m. ET when emergency personnel arrived at David’s home to find the garage set ablaze, with Browne suffering from burns outside the home.

David had reportedly used some sort of an unnamed accelerant to start the fire to his home. Browne eventually quit his well-paying job a couple of weeks later, on October 27. Reports indicate that David was pressured to resign — not only because ending the working relationship was claimed to be in the best interest of Browne and the school system, but also because David reportedly used a work-related device to access Browne’s Ashley Madison account.

Browne was charged with arson for burning his 1737-era house. David apparently attempted to commit suicide — or at least appeared to want to kill himself — as reports from Browne’s neighbors state that there were cuts on David’s wrists prior to the blaze, deemed superficial wrist slits. David’s leave of absence and eventual resignation was called quitting in order to retire Browne, according to school-board president Tammy MacKay — who said David would get three months worth of severance pay.

David and Monica have two children, a 10-year-old and a 12-year-old. Monica is seeking custody of the children.

Browne previously held a high position as the superintendent over a district with 4,900 students. It was a job that David had held for more than four years, since July, 2011. Meanwhile, Robert Landel, divorce lawyer for Monica Browne, pleaded for privacy in the wake of the arson news surrounding David.

“I hope everybody understands that this is a family with two young children in a small community — and they deserve their privacy.”

The Ashley Madison website hacking wreaked havoc in the lives of Ashley Madison users who found their AshleyMadison.com information exposed to the when nearly 10GB of data was published to the dark web. Hackers threatened AshleyMadison.com with user exposure if the owners didn’t take their website down permanently. When Ashley Madison wasn’t taken offline, the data of their users was leaked online in a fashion that sent people reeling.

[Photo by Carl Court/Getty Images]