back to article Spammer gets 30 years in the slammer

Notorious spammer Christopher "Rizler" Smith was sentenced to 30 years in prison by a federal judge on Wednesday. US District Judge Michael Davis called Smith a "drug kingpin" before throwing the book at him. Smith was convicted on charges of conspiracy, illegal distribution of drugs, money laundering and operating a continuing …

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  1. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Next!

    Want to see which spammer goes down next? Look in Illinois.

  2. Sam

    Re Next

    Care to expand on that?

    Expand..Viagra...fnarr, fnarr!

    All right, I'm going..

  3. Daniel Snowden

    Justice!

    Is served!

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Good, good

    It's obviously good to see this happen, and I hope that Christopher "Rizler" Smith will meet some nice gentlemen in the slammer,.. gentlemen with a huge stack of viagras and and who have enlarged their penises to the max... I bet he wishes he'd have a few xanaxes for the 'cigarrette moment'...

    But why has it taken so long, and why aren't more spammers caught!?

  5. Andy

    Delivery companies just as guilty

    I actually followed a link that one of the spammers sent (I suppose I have a small penis and was hoping a good dose of \/14gr4 would make all the girls love me).

    They use world class courier companies to deliver their drugs. The UPS logo was emblazoned on the (illegal?) drug company website.

    Surely these companies should also be pursued as they can reasonably be expected to know that they are involved in the illegal transportation of drugs?

    I contacted our regional UPS division but they declined to comment.

  6. Simon

    Indeed, who's next

    Well judging by the reports in the past from The Reg, the majority of spamming is from a few individuals.

    Maybe a long prison sentance is the only way to stop these people, so lets just round them all up and put them somewhere safe for the next 30 years.

    Then we can have back all the time and money we waste sorting out the crap that fills our inboxes.

  7. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Take 'em down!

    How do the kids say? W00T!!!111

  8. Harry

    About time too

    If *every* spammer were to get 30 years in prison, maybe these miscreants would stop spamming.

    Though bringing back the death penalty as a precaution against a repeat spamming offence would probably be even better.

  9. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Oh come on..

    .. I'd expected at least one reference from The Reg to a stiff sentance.

  10. Danny

    emotional

    this brings a tear to my eye, i guess justice does prevail sometimes *snicker*

  11. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Yes, but not for spamming

    The 30 year sentence wasn't for the actual spamming, as your tabloid headline seems to imply; rather, it was for the "conspiracy, illegal distribution of drugs, money laundering and operating a continuing criminal enterprise".

  12. Dam

    what about spamford wallace?

    I rofl'd at the comment under the title ^^

    What about spamford wallace, getting raped soon?

  13. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Here's hoping...

    ... that his cell mate has a 30 year supply of V|@gra.

  14. Chris

    Yes!

    Justice and a classic headline!

    I'm sending you my dry cleaning bill btw.

  15. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Hello?

    You realise they'll be straight back on the internet from gaol as it would infringe their human rights if they didn't get their personal 2Pbit DSL line, 52" HD LCD tv, Sky+ HD. And remember, life is hard inside as sometimes they have to share these essentials for life with their celly!

  16. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    By my calculations...

    30 years is not nearly enough... IMHO punishment should fit the crime multiplied by number of people affected, divided by likelihood of getting caught. Thats one hell of a punishment due, oh and make the execution of it public which should hopefully act as a deterrent for other would be spammers :-p

  17. Matthew Hale

    Justice?! REALLY?

    THIRTY YEARS?! For peddling some crappy penis pills and sending a bunch of (albeit unsolicited) emails? Whilst I don't deny that spam is a little irritating (for end users) and more so for sysadmins, it's really not that much of a problem IMO, unless you are really quite useless at deleting mail/setting up filters....30 years is wildy disproportionate, especially when you consider the sentences doled out to people who commit arguably more serious and violent offences which actually hurt people. What a weird world we live in. Doubtlessly there is some sick twisted logic at work here, along the lines of the fatuous `War On Terror` ...

  18. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    @ Sam

    Sorry, can't expand, the investigation and evidence-sequestering is underway and I don't want to cause the case to be tossed out.

  19. Sceptical Bastard

    Yes: REALLY justice

    Do keep up at the back, Matthew!

    This bag of pus didn't get thirty years for "peddling some crappy penis pills and sending a bunch of (albeit unsolicited) emails".

    He got thirty years for being a shitstain on the face of humanity, for dealing in Class A drugs, for money laundering, for attempting to pervert the course of justice, for fleeing during a previous court case, and probably half a hundred other crimes. Thirty years being buggered and beaten seems very lenient to me.

    El Reg's headline disproportionately emphasises the incidental information that he was also a spammer.

  20. Dillon Pyron

    Facing additional charges

    He's also facing charges for fleeing, which could add an additional 10 years to his sentence.

    And Federal time is long time. No parole. All he can hope for is about 5 years off for good behavior.

    Of course, he'll go to a minimum security prison. Unless he's convicted of witness tampering with the addition of making threats of violence.

    He was originally charged with several hundred counts of illegal delivery of a prescription drug.

    And he was a fool to come back, even for a moment. Of course, he's lucky that some bounty hunter didn't try his hand at "extraordinary rendition". That's been done before.

  21. Daniel Bennett

    30 YEARS?!

    That's a bit hard-on him isn't it...!

    ...

    I've lost my coat.

  22. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    The pills can be very dangerous

    I was watching a news report yesterday, and many of those pills contain things like drywall, highway paint, and chemicals that can cause irreversable health problems. Imagine if terrorists started putting something even more serious like cyanide inside a few batches of these shipments, and all of sudden, thousands of people all over the world start keeling over and dying for no apparent reason. And many of these counterfeit pills are making it into legitimate channels such as prescription shops in local drug stores.

    Anybody who peddles these kinds of pills should be locked up forever!!! I shouldn't have to worry that the aspirin I buy from a pharmacy could have actually come from China and possibly kill me or my family just because someone over there is looking to make money and doesn't care what's in the pills.

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