O.C. Man Charged in Internet Forgery Case

A Mission Viejo man hijacked the computer system of a Westchester County company to send millions of e-mails to America Online customers about pornographic Web sites or get-rich-quick schemes, a New York district attorney said. The “spam” messages were disguised to look like they had been sent from IBM.net, IBM’s Internet provider, said Dist. Atty. Jeanine Pirro. Jason Garon, 46, surrendered and was arraigned on charges of forgery and computer tampering. If convicted, he could be sentenced to up to seven years in prison. He was released without bail pending a September court hearing. A call to Garon’s lawyer, Bruce Bendish, was not immediately returned. The district attorney’s office said the criminal prosecution for Internet forgery was the first of its kind in the United States.