16-10-2007

Two men who sent millions of unsolicited pornographic e-mails have been sentenced to more than five years in federal prison as part of the first prosecution under a federal anti-spam law, U.S. Department of Justice officials said Friday.

Jeffrey A. Kilbride of Venice, Calif., and James R. Schaffer of Paradise Valley, Ariz., purchased e-mail addresses and sent the owners of those addresses links to pornographic Web sites, prosecutors said.

They were convicted in June of charges including conspiracy, money laundering, fraud and transportation of obscene materials after a three-week trial and were sentenced by a federal judge in Phoenix this week.

Prosecutors said that Kilbride and Schaffer, both 41, started their spamming business four years ago, earning more than $2 million in commissions.

They sent millions of unsolicited e-mails, prosecutors said. During nine months in 2004, Kilbride, Schaffer and an associate transmitted more than 600,000 spam messages advertising pornographic Web sites, according to court documents.