Celebrity Hacker Sentenced to 5 Years in Prison

Alonzo Knowles, a 24-year-old hacker from Freeport, Bahamas, was sentenced to five years in prison on Tuesday in connection with hacking into celebrities' email accounts.

Prosecutors had originally asked for Knowles to serve a 27- to 33-month sentence. However, The Associated Press reported that U.S. District Judge Paul A. Engelmayer referenced Knowles' jailhouse conversations as the reason for doubling the sentence, saying he believed that the hacker showed a lack of remorse for his actions and posed a threat to society.

"Alonzo Knowles hacked into the private emails of entertainment and sports celebrities, stole personal information and property, including unreleased movie and television scripts, and attempted to sell them to the highest bidder," Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said in a press release from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York. "For his frightful violation of privacy, Knowles has been sentenced to a substantial term of imprisonment."

Knowles pleaded guilty to copyright infringement and identity theft in May, after he hacked the email accounts of celebrities and stole unreleased TV and movie scripts, personal information, and private sexually explicit photos and videos, according to the press release. He tried to sell some of the material and was arrested a year ago after he traveled to the United States to meet with an undercover federal agent who was posing as a customer, the press release states.

According to The AP, Knowles apologized to his victims and to the judge before his sentencing.

"What I did was wrong," he said. "I could have ruined people's lives."