http://www.spokesmanreview.com/news-story.asp?date=061902&ID=s1169612&cat=section.business Kevin Blocker Staff writer June 19, 2002 Correction (6/20/02): Visiting federal Judge Edward Shea sentenced three men for their roles in hacking into computer systems and storing credit card numbers from Web sites. Three Spokane men were sentenced Tuesday for their roles in hacking into computer systems and storing 2,700 credit card numbers from Internet business sites. One of the defendants forced the shutdown of the Web site of the Washington, D.C., mass transit system in May 2000. Brent J. Woodfield, 21, pleaded guilty to hacking into the systems, and Erik R. Thompson, 22, and Sean R. Shelton, 22, pleaded guilty to helping Woodfield store the evidence. The three were accused of replacing transit information in the nation's capital with profanity-laced protests of lawsuits brought against the company Napster to stop the free downloading of music. FBI agents also found 2,700 credit card numbers that had been moved from Woodfield's apartment to Thompson's home. "We believe they hacked into hundreds of Web sites and illegally obtained these credit card numbers," said Assistant U.S. Attorney Tom Rice. Authorities have no evidence that the three used the credit card numbers. They were arrested last December. The hacking of the Web site of the Washington Metropolitan Transit Authority occurred on May 29, 2000. It temporarily shut down the Web site used by 1.8 million people a year for schedule information and ticket sales. Woodfield received six months' home confinement and three years' probation. The men cannot have contact with computers unless they receive approval from their probation officers. "My client is anxious to get this over with and face the consequences," Woodfield's attorney, Terence Ryan, said Tuesday. Despite the defendants' remorse, U.S. District Judge Fred Van Sickle leveled stern words at them. "I don't think you get it, Mr. Thompson," said Van Sickle, who sentenced Thompson to three years' probation, a year more than attorneys for both sides had agreed to. "I hear you're intelligent, but your record shows bad judgment," the judge said. "You just show the inability to be successful." Thompson dropped out of high school before getting his GED. Then he enrolled in college, sported a 1.89 grade-point average and dropped out. "Your life is not `Good Will Hunting,"' Van Sickle said. "You are on the verge of criminal activity." As for Shelton, Van Sickle told him the only sign of recent success in his life was getting into a "terrible accident" and receiving a substantial award for it. Van Sickle agreed with Shelton's attorney that he was the "least culpable" of the three because he wasn't as computer-literate. Shelton received a year of probation. - ISN is currently hosted by Attrition.org To unsubscribe email majordomoat_private with 'unsubscribe isn' in the BODY of the mail.
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