Two arrested in spam scheme

NEW YORK — An America Online software engineer stole a list of 92 million customer screen names that was eventually used to send massive amounts of e-mail spam, federal prosecutors said Wednesday.

Jason Smathers, 24, was arrested at his home in Harpers Ferry, W.Va., and was charged with conspiracy.

Smathers, working at AOL offices in Dulles, Va., stole the list and sold it to a Las Vegas man, Sean Dunaway, who used it to promote an Internet gambling operation and sold it to spammers, a criminal complaint said.

Dunaway, 21, also was arrested at his home and was charged with conspiracy. Dunaway made an initial appearance in U.S. District Court in Las Vegas; he was released and given 30 days to appear before a U.S. magistrate judge in New York. Smathers was to appear in court in Virginia.

Lawyers for the men were not immediately available to comment.

Each man could face up to five years in prison and at least $250,000 in fines if convicted.