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Mission Viejo Man Held in Porn Scheme That Spammed AOL Users

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From Associated Press

A Mission Viejo man hijacked the computer system of a New York company to send millions of e-mails to America Online customers about pornographic Web sites or get-rich-quick schemes, a prosecutor said Monday.

The “spam” messages were disguised to look as if they had been sent from ibm.net, IBM’s Internet provider, said Jeanine Pirro, district attorney for Westchester County, N.Y.

“You couldn’t find him to complain, but he could find you to make money off you,” she said. “This is an old crime committed in a new way. He was basically brokering porn and various schemes, and it was forgery because he used this false return address.”

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Jason Garon, 46, of Mission Viejo surrendered to authorities in White Plains, N.Y., Monday morning 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.

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