Bristol: Hacked Email Prompted Harassing Calls

Cell number online produced hundreds of prank calls, messages
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Apr 22, 2010 7:14 AM CDT
Bristol: Hacked Email Prompted Harassing Calls
David Kernell, center, who is charged with hacking Sarah Palin's email, is shown entering the federal courthouse at Knoxville, Tenn., with his attorneys, Wade Davies, left, and Anne Passino.   (Bill Poovey)

Bristol Palin bore some of the brunt when her mother's email account was hacked during the 2008 presidential race, and her cell phone number posted online. She received countless phone calls and hundreds of text messages, she testified in court yesterday, including one really scary call from a group of boys who claimed they were outside her front door. That was a bit freaky, Bristol said, because "we live in the middle of nowhere in Alaska ... in the middle of the woods."

Palin was speaking during the trial of David Kernell, the 22-year-old ex-college student accused of hacking the account. Palin's number was included with a photo she snapped of brother Trig and sent to her parents while they were on the road. "I saw a screenshot on the TV," she said."I think it was Fox News." Kernell isn't charged with making any harassing calls, but he is charged with identity theft, wire fraud, and several other charges that could send him to prison for up to 50 years.
(More Bristol Palin stories.)

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