April 13, 2005

A thirty year-old man convicted in the United States' first criminal case against illegal email spamming was sentenced Friday to nine years in federal prison, for sending Internet users millions of unwanted junk emails.

Loudoun County Circuit Judge Thomas Horne has decided to delay the start of Jeremy Jaynes' prison term while the case is appealed due to the relatively comprehensive nature of the new law. A jury had recommended the nine-year term for the Raleigh, North Carolina man.

Considered one of the world's top 10 spammers at the time of his arrest, Jayne peddled pornography and sham products and services to thousands of Internet users, prosecutors said. Jaynes' operation was estimated to gross up to $750,000 per month.

Jaynes was convicted last November for sending mass email ads using false Internet addresses and aliases through an AOL server in Loudoun County, where America Online is based. Sending unsolicited bulk email in Virgina is not illegal in itself unless the sender hides his identity.

Source: The WHIR