PHOENIX, AZ – Jennifer R. Clason, a resident of New Hampshire, has pleaded guilty to two spamming counts under the CAN-SPAM Act and one count of criminal conspiracy, the U.S. Department of Justice announced Monday. Under the plea agreement, Clason has agreed to forfeit money obtained through the violations of CAN-SPAM and faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison for each of the spamming and conspiracy offenses.
Clason’s plea is the latest chapter in a story that came to the public’s attention last August, when a nine-count indictment was returned against Clason, Jeffrey A. Kilbride, and James R. Schaffer, charging all three with two counts of “fraud in connection electronic mail,” and one count of conspiracy. Kilbride and Schaffer, but not Clason, were each also charged with two counts of “importation or transportation of obscene matters,” two counts of “transportation of obscene matters for sale or distribution,” and one count of money laundering,
In addition, Schaffer was charged with one count of “operating three pornographic Internet websites without including required statements describing the location of identification and other records for the performers portrayed in the Web sites, as is required by federal law.” This charge stands as the first and only charge ever brought under 18 USC § 2257 record-keeping and labeling requirements.
Two other people, Andrew D. Ellifson, and Kirk F. Rogers, have already plead guilty to charges of CAN-SPAM violations in the case. Ellifson, Rogers and Clason are all scheduled for sentencing on August 5th – the day before the trial of Kilbride and Schaffer is due to start, on August 6th.
The DOJ has touted the prosecution as an example of the seriousness with which the DOJ is treating CAN-SPAM and the transmission of “obscene” email, specifically.
“This ongoing prosecution addresses two of the most significant problems to arise in the age of the Internet: online obscenity and the intrusive, costly and often harmful practice of e-mail spam,” said Assistant Attorney General Alice S. Fisher after Rogers pleaded guilty in January. “We will use all the laws provided to us by the Congress, including the CAN-SPAM Act, to make sure that the Internet provides as safe an environment as possible for our children and communities.”
“We want to put a stop to pornographers who enter our houses uninvited and threaten our children’s innocence,” added U.S. Attorney Paul K. Charlton, one of the other prosecutors involved. “This case, the first in the country, should send a strong message to other pornographers.”
