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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowFederal prosecutors in Pittsburgh want an Indiana man sent to prison for helping send millions of illegal spam messages to U.S. and international cellphones and computers.
Thirty-one-year-old Phillip Fleitz, of Indianapolis, is scheduled for sentencing Monday. Two other men in the same scheme have received probation, but federal prosecutors want Fleitz to serve more than two years in prison. They say he was already on probation for driving under the influence when he was charged in the spamming scheme and has failed drug tests since his arrest.
Fleitz's defense attorney contends prison would be overkill in light of the other sentences.
Fleitz was one of 12 U.S. residents charged with marketing illegal computer skills on a cybercriminal marketplace disabled by the FBI in July. Seventy people in the U.S. and 19 other countries were targeted in that takedown.
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