• Recommend:
• 0 Comments

Mitnick May Go Free by January

Legendary hacker has already served more than four years.

By Jack McCarthy, IDG News   

Mitnick, 35, who has already spent more than four years in prison, should be eligible for release by early 2000 or before, according to both prosecution and defense lawyers in the case.

Depending on how the Federal Bureau of Prisons calculates time off for good behavior, Mitnick could be released as early as January 2000, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Chris Painter and defense lawyer Donald Randolph.

U.S. District Court Judge Mariana Pfaelzer also ordered Mitnick to pay just over $4000 in restitution, Assistant U.S. Attorney David Schindler said. The judge acknowledged the amount was a "token" sum compared to the $1.5 million prosecutors asked for, but said Mitnick did not have the ability to pay more, Schindler said.

Investigators arrested Mitnick in 1995 following a well-publicized manhunt that was the subject of the book Takedown. He was charged with 25 counts of wire and computer fraud for breaking into the networks of companies including Sun Microsystems, Novell, and Motorola. Mitnick has been in federal custody since his arrest.

In March, Mitnick pleaded guilty to 7 counts of the 25 charges originally filed against him, plus another 2 charges filed separately by federal prosecutors in Northern California.

Mitnick was previously sentenced to an additional 22 months in prison for an unrelated charge of possessing cloned cellular phones when he was arrested in North Carolina in 1995 and for violating terms of a supervised release imposed after he was convicted of computer fraud in an unrelated case in 1989. The 42-month and 22-month terms are to be served consecutively, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's office said.

During the hearing the judge turned down a request by defense attorney Randolph that Mitnick be immediately released into a halfway house. Nonetheless, Randolph said he was pleased that Mitnick was not required to pay more in restitution.

Sending a Message

The sentence reflected the seriousness of Mitnick's crimes, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Schindler.

"We hope hackers or anybody who is intent on gaining unauthorized access to computers will recognize that there are serious penalties and consequences associated with such conduct," he said.

On Friday, California state prosecutors dropped state charges against Mitnick of illegally accessing a U.S. Department of Motor Vehicles computer in 1993 and retrieving confidential information.

Those charges, which could have added several more months to Mitnick's prison time, were dropped because Mitnick never used a computer, said Deputy District Attorney Daniel Bershin. Rather, Mitnick called the DMV, posing as a welfare fraud inspector to get the DMV to access information for him. "He was mischarged," Bershin said.