Local News in Brief : Plea Deal in Works for Alleged Hacker
An alleged Panorama City computer hacker considered too dangerous to be allowed to use phones without supervision is considering a guilty plea in a deal with the government, a prosecutor disclosed in a Los Angeles court Monday.
Assistant U.S. Atty. James Sanders made the disclosure at a scheduled pretrial hearing for Kevin David Mitnick, who is accused of infiltrating computer systems in the United States and England.
Sanders asked U.S. District Judge Mariana Pfaelzer to delay the hearing until Wednesday, saying, “We’re working on a possible plea in this case and we think we can resolve it by that time.”
The 25-year-old Mitnick was first indicted on computer fraud charges Dec. 20. A superseding indictment expanding the charges was issued last month.
Mitnick, who has a prior conviction for computer-related crime, was accused of unauthorized use of MCI long-distance codes to tap into computers at Leeds University in England and USC and of causing $4 million in damage to a Digital Equipment Corp. computer system.
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
