27 year-old Adam Vitale was accused of having sent 250,000 spam mails to over 1.2 million AOL email addresses.
The spamer pleaded guilty for braking anti-spam legislation. In addition to his imprisonment, the New York court also ruled that Vitale must pay a fine of $180,000 to AOL.
"Spamming is serious criminal conduct. This is not a teenager engaging in child’s play," stated US District Judge Denny Chin.
Vitale already had 22 other convictions and had been investigated for promoting prostitution via Craigslist.
He and his accomplice, Todd Moeller, were arrested after having offered spam services to an undercover investigator. Moeller pleaded guilty to two counts of e-mail fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit e-mail fraud and was sentenced to 27 months imprisonment. He also gained a hefty fine of $183,000 .