Hacker May Get 22 Months in Prison

A federal judge indicated Monday that she plans to sentence famed computer hacker Kevin Mitnick to 22 months in prison for cellular phone fraud and violating his probation from an earlier computer crime conviction.

The sentencing next Monday is only a small part of Mitnick’s legal problems. Still pending against him is a 25-count federal indictment accusing him of stealing millions of dollars in software during an elaborate hacking spree while he was a fugitive. A trial date in that case has not been set.

U.S. District Judge Mariana R. Pfaelzer on Monday held off on formally sentencing Mitnick for a week to allow time for her to draft conditions for Mitnick’s probation after he serves the prison term.

Pfaelzer said she plans to sentence Mitnick to eight months on the cellular phone fraud charge and 14 months for violating his probation, Assistant U.S. Atty. Christopher Painter said. The sentences will run consecutively.

Mitnick faces the sentence for violating terms of his probation in 1992 when he broke into PacBell voice mail computers and used stolen passwords of PacBell security employees to listen to voice mail, Painter said. At the time, Mitnick was employed by Teltec Communications, which was under investigation by PacBell.

Mitnick spent two years as a fugitive until 1995, when he was found with hundreds of cellular phone codes he had been using.