Today criminal defendant Gregory Alexander pled guilty to unlawfully accessing the email account of victim Randall Hough, under 18 U.S.C. Section 2701(a)(1) (Unauthorized Access to Stored Communications). The guilty plea was entered in front of Judge Edward M. Chen, in District Court for the Northern District of California., and sentencing will occur before Judge Elizabeth D. Laporte on March 20, 2012. A copy of the plea agreement is here.

A grand jury indicted Gregory Alexander on July 15, 2009 for unlawfully accessing the email account of Randall Hough, who was, at the time, a board member of the U.S. Chess Federation. Following the unauthorized access, attorney Karl Kronenberger of the law firm of Kronenberger Rosenfeld, LLP filed a civil action on behalf of the U.S. Chess Federation and Mr. Hough seeking the identity of the person who unlawfully accessed Randall Hough’s email account. Through the use of subpoenas and other court processes, Mr. Kronenberger discovered that Gregory Alexander was the individual responsible for the unauthorized access. Thereafter, the U.S. Secret Service Electronic Crimes Task Force conducted a search of Gregory Alexander’s house, which led to an indictment and the eventual guilty plea.

The civil case against Gregory Alexander has been stayed pending resolution of the criminal matter.

United States of America v. Gregory Alexander, No. 09-00719 EMC, District Court for the Northern District of California.

UPDATE on 2.9.12: The Court releases the transcript of the guilty plea hearing for Gregory Alexander.