Although he has struck a deal with federal prosecutors in his celebrity hacking case, Christopher Chaney is still facing up to 60 years in prison and 3 years probation.
- March 23, 2012
AceShowbiz -
Christopher Chaney, who is accused of hacking into the e-mail accounts of numerous celebrities, including Scarlett Johansson, Christina Aguilera and Mila Kunis, has finally agreed to plead guilty to federal charges. Four months after initially pleading not guilty, the Florida man struck a deal with federal prosecutors in exchange for a lighter sentence.
A plea agreement has been filed in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles on Thursday, March 22. It states that Chaney will plead guilty to nine criminal counts, including identity theft, wiretapping, and unauthorized access and damage to a protected computer. The 35-year-old is now facing up to 60 years in prison.
Chaney was arrested on October 12, 2011 after an 11-month investigation dubbed "Operation Hackerazzi" by the FBI. His arrest came just a few weeks after nude photos of Johansson hit the Internet. Of his arrest, he said he was actually "relieved" to be caught because he became "addicted" to the intrusion and "didn't know how to stop."
Back in November 2011, Chaney entered his not guilty plea during his first court appearance in Los Angeles, California. Facing a maximum of 121 years in federal prison, he was ordered to wear an electronic location-monitoring bracelet upon his return to Florida, and was refrained from using computers and smoking marijuana.
