William J. Edwards, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio, today announced that Vaden Anderson, age 28, of Bedford Heights, Ohio, was sentenced to 21 months in prison in connection with his recent conviction for violation of the Telephone Records and Privacy Act of 2006 ( Title 18, United States Code, Section 1039(a)). Anderson will serve 2 years on supervised release following his release from prison and was ordered to pay a special assessment of $100 to the Crime Victim’s Fund.

On December 30, 2008, a federal grand jury in Cleveland, Ohio, returned a one count Indictment, charging Anderson with violating the “pretexting” statute, specifically Title 18, United States Code, Section 1039(a)(3). Anderson entered a guilty plea to the one count Indictment on March 11, 2009.

The Indictment charged that on or about March 24, 2008, Anderson knowingly and intentionally obtained and attempted to obtain confidential telephone records information from Sprint / Nextel, a telecommunications carrier as defined in Title 47, U.S.C., Section 153, by serving a fictitious U.S. District Court civil subpoena upon Sprint / Nextel, in interstate commerce.

This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert W. Kern, Cybercrime Coordinator for the Cleveland U.S. Attorney’s Office, following an investigation by the Cleveland Office of the United States Secret Service.