(PTI) The teenaged son of a Democratic Tennessee state lawmaker was today indicted by a federal grand jury in connection with the sensational hacking of the e-mail account of Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin. David C. Kernell, 20, the student at the University of Tennessee was indicted by a grand jury in Knoxville.If convicted, Kernell could face a maximum of five years in prison and a USD 250,000 fine. This is a much stiffer penalty than some people around the Web had been guessing, and shows that the
| His father, Mike Kernell, is chairman of Tennessee's House Government Operations Committee. He has denied any hand in the hacking incident. |
His father, Mike Kernell, is chairman of Tennessee's House Government Operations Committee. He has denied any hand in the hacking incident.
The indictment against Kernell alleged that on September 16, he reset the password of Palin's personal e-mail account to gain access to it. Kernell allegedly read the contents of the account and made screenshots of the e-mail directory, e-mail content and other personal information.
According to the indictment, Kernell posted screenshots of the e-mails and other personal information of Palin's account to a public Web site. Kernell also allegedly posted the new e-mail account password that he had created, thus providing access to the account by others.
Kernell allegedly read the contents of the account and made screenshots of the e-mail directory, e-mail content and other personal information. Kernell also reportedly posted screenshots of the e-mails and other personal information to a public Web site.