Last year, a mass e-mail announced that Alexey Tolstokozhev, a Russian spammer responsible for 30 percent of unsolicited penis enlargement e-mails, was found murdered in his luxury house near Moscow. He had been shot several times, execution-style.

Alas, it was just another Internet hoax. Too good to be true. It was believed by many because it fed into the hopes and dreams of computer users everywhere. Death penalty for spam? Maybe a bit harsh, but we can empathize. Spam costs businesses billions of dollars every year. Important messages get lost in spam filters or aren’t received because the mailbox is full.

The so-called King of Spam is being sentenced in Seattle, and it’s difficult to think of a punishment that’s too harsh. Robert Soloway, 28, is thought to have sent billions of spam e-mails over the course of his wretched career. Chances are, you’ve had some of his handiwork jamming your inbox. Authorities estimate that he sent out tens of millions of e-mails a day from his tony waterfront apartment in Seattle. When he did venture outside, he’d tool around in a late-model Mercedes Benz.

His preferred method for transmitting spam was to hijack people’s computers and turn them into “slaves.” His “botnet” caused untold headaches for businesses and individuals worldwide. He bragged on Internet message boards that he was unstoppable.

Well, he was captured in May and he ultimately pleaded guilty to various counts of mail fraud, e-mail fraud and tax evasion. Sentencing in federal court was expected to wrap up on Monday. He could spend more than 20 years in jail and faces fines of up to $250,000. That’s a start, but we can think of ways to add to his misery:

•Force him to embark on the Nigerian scam. If he gets the money after ponying up his own, he’s free. If not, no parole.

•Have him write anti-Spam software. He gets an extra day of incarceration for each e-mail that slips through.

•Give him some chalk and have him write “I’m sorry for being an annoying creep” on his cell wall. One sentence for every e-mail he sent.

•Force him to eat Spam – the luncheon meat – at every meal.

Nah, too extreme. But you can’t blame us for forwarding a dream.