LV man to face charges in ‘Net scheme

Jace Radke and Mary Manning

Thursday, June 24, 2004 | 11 a.m.

A Las Vegas man on Wednesday was ordered to face federal charges in New York in connection with an alleged scheme to sell a list of 92 million America Online screen names to e-mail solicitors, or spammers.

Sean Dunaway, 21, appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge Robert Johnston, and was released on his own recognizance and ordered to appear in Manhattan on July 23. Dunaway had been arrested earlier in the day.

According to a criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Manhattan, Dunaway purchased a list of AOL screen names from Virginia resident and AOL employee Jason Smathers in May 2003 for $52,000. Smathers, 24, a software engineer, allegedly used his computer skills to steal the list.

After buying the list, Dunaway used it to promote his online gambling business and then sold the list to two spammers for $52,000, the complaint states.

The spammers later bought an updated list from Dunaway for $32,000, and sent spam e-mail advertising herbal penile enlargement pills to AOL users in 2004.

Dunaway could not be reached for comment Wednesday night. But at the home owned by Dunaway on Fancy Fern Street in the southeast valley, Dunaway's roommate, 20-year-old Bobby Combs, said he, too, was arrested after officers had kicked in the front door of the two-story house early in the morning.

"I have no idea what was going on," Combs said. "That's why they let me go."

Combs, who had known Dunaway for a couple of years, said he had no idea where Dunaway was and hadn't seen him all day.

A silver BMW with personalized license plate, "DUNKLAB," was parked in the driveway because the garage had a covered jacuzzi in it.

Neighbors said they heard authorities kick in the brown metal door and watched as evidence was taken from the house.

"They were handcuffed face down," neighbor Christo Zaferatos said. "We've seen them at the pool. Seemed like nice folks."

Zaferatos said there were "lots of girls" around the two men.

"It's always the quiet ones," Zaferatos mused. "I had no idea those were our neighbors."

Monique Quinn, another neighbor, said that she never heard anything from the house. "They didn't make noise," she said.

A woman who lives next door to Dunaway and Combs said she saw Dunaway all the time.

"He's a very nice guy," she said. "He helped me buy a computer."

She said she talked to him every time she walked her dogs and she knew that he worked out of the house.

"He's been nothing but courteous to me and my kid," she said. "I don't believe it (the charge against Dunaway) until you show me something in black and white. I think he's just a hard-working kid."

Most residents said they had moved into the neighborhood about a year ago.

David Kelley, interim U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, said that the case against Dunaway and Smathers is one of the first in the nation brought under the recently enacted CAN-SPAM law. The law bans unsolicited e-mails sent with phony return addresses.

If convicted Smathers and Dunaway each face a maximum sentence of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

AOL fired Smathers and reported the alleged theft to authorities. Smathers worked at a Dulles, Va., warehouse where a secure database of AOL's 30 million subscribers is stored, according to the complaint.

Smathers, who did not have access to the database, allegedly used the computer identification of another employee in April and May of 2003 and began compiling a list of subscribers. The information contained in the list included customer screen names, zip codes, credit card types and telephone numbers of AOL customers.

No credit card account numbers were stored in the database, and there is no evidence that anyone gained access to credit card numbers, federal authorities said.

The complaint goes on to state that Smathers and another unnamed individual began discussing techniques to spam AOL customers.

Natalie Collins, spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Nevada, said that there haven't been any similar anti-spamming cases filed in Nevada.