'Revenge Porn' Hacker Sentenced to 2 Years in Prison for Stealing Photos

A Los Angeles-area man was sentenced to two years in prison on Monday for hacking into women's email accounts to search for naked photos then selling the images to a so-called revenge porn website, local media reports said.

Charles Evens, 26, pleaded guilty in July to charges of computer hacking and identity theft, the Los Angeles Times and City News Service said.

Evens was accused of working for another California man, Hunter Moore, who ran a now-defunct site that published intimate or graphic photos, mostly of women, in an attempt to shame an ex-spouse or lover, authorities have said.

Evens was sentenced on Monday to 25-months in prison, a $2,000 (roughly Rs. 1.3 lakhs) fine, and 20 hours of community service, a federal judge ruled, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Evens took cash for breaking into email accounts to look for compromising photos of users, authorities said. In some cases, the stolen images were published with the social media accounts of the people depicted, authorities have said.

Revenge porn has drawn the attention of lawmakers in several states, leading to legislation intended to stop the practice.

In 2013, California Governor Jerry Brown signed the first law in the nation specifically targeting revenge porn. New Jersey has an older law that allows prosecution of revenge porn, but it was passed as part of a broader cyber-bullying statute.

© Thomson Reuters 2015