A Cedarville man was sentenced Tuesday to five months in prison in connection with the unauthorized access of 5,921 email accounts.
Mark Anthony Townsend, 46, pleaded guilty in April to one federal charge of computer hacking.
On Tuesday, U.S. District Judge P.K. Holmes III sentenced Townsend and fined him $10,000. After Townsend serves five months in prison, he will be on supervised release for one year, but the first five months of supervised release will be under home detention, according to the sentencing summary.
Townsend faced a maximum of five years in prison and a fine of twice the financial gain resulting from the illegal hacking, or about $700,000, according to an April 14 news release from U.S. Attorney Conner Eldridge. The activity falls under 18 U.S. Code, Section 1030(a)(2)(C), (c)(2)(B)(i), gaining access to a protected computer for the purpose of financial gain.
"This case sends a message that we're going to aggressively pursue those who commit computer intrusion and hacking crimes," Eldridge said Tuesday. "In this case, thousands of individuals lost password-protected information because this defendant broke federal law for personal financial gain. He's now been held accountable for that conduct."
Townsend reached a plea agreement with federal prosecutors April 14.
Townsend operated an online business called needapassword.com that solicited customers who wanted to get passwords to other people's email accounts, according to the plea agreement.
The website, which is no longer active, included advertisements that read, "Is your spouse cheating with someone? Do you know who they are? You have the right to read the personal thoughts your spouse is writing to others," according to an FBI affidavit filed Sept. 24, 2013, in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Arkansas.
From May 2002 through June 2013, Townsend and others he recruited to work for the business made $356,235 with their password-hacking services, according to the plea agreement. The fees paid for hacking services typically ranged from $50 to $350.
Some of the illegal hacking was done from a computer at the Crawford County Courthouse in Van Buren, according to the affidavit. Townsend was an assistant chief at Crawford County Rural Fire Department No. 4.
Joshua Alan Tabor of Prairie Grove was also charged in the case.
In an April 21 agreement, Tabor pleaded guilty to one count of gaining unauthorized access to a protected computer. The term "protected computer" refers to computers used by financial institutions of the U.S. government or used for interstate or foreign commerce, according to 18 U.S.C., Section 1030(e)(2).
According to the plea agreement, Tabor was involved with needapassword.com from May 2010 until at least August 2012. Tabor received $5,887 in fees for illegally accessing more than 250 computer passwords, according to the plea agreement. Tabor faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. He is scheduled to be sentenced Oct. 15 in federal court in Fayetteville.
Townsend and Tabor were previously employed by Apprentice Information Systems Inc. of Rogers, a company that provided information-technology services to county governments.
According to the FBI affidavit, Townsend used Crawford County government Internet services to conduct criminal activity.
Townsend maintained a desk at the Crawford County Courthouse where he typically spent two days a week working, according to the document. Two computers were on Townsend's desk -- one that belonged to Apprentice Information Systems and one that was owned by the Crawford County Rural Fire Department No. 4, according to the affidavit.
Townsend is to report to the Federal Bureau of Prisons by noon Nov. 14, according to the sentencing summary from Tuesday's hearing.
Metro on 10/01/2014