Spammer literally walks out of prison

by Steve Ragan - Jul 23 2008, 11:26

Edward "Eddie" Davidson (35) was barely into his twenty-one month jail sentence, when he decided prison life just wasn’t for him, and headed into the sunset. In April, Davidson, known as the “penny stock” Spam king, was sentenced to serve his time in a minimum security prison camp in Florence, Colorado, where he had served just under two months before literally walking away from the facility. $If you don\'t like Club Fed, just walk out. (IMG:J.Anderson)$

If you don\'t like Club Fed, just walk out. (IMG:J.Anderson)

Prior to his conviction, Davidson had worked from home operating a company called Power Promoters between 2002 and 2006, during which time he netted millions of dollars from sending bulk e-mail or Spam. The operation was slick, to the point where Davidson would change the header information in his messages to make it appear as if they had come from legitimate companies, the U.S. Deptartment of Justice said.“The company generated its income through selling stock (commonly referred to as “penny stock”) on behalf of small companies on the public market. Davidson aided by several sub-spammers sent hundreds of thousands of unsolicited e-mail messages to potential purchasers throughout the United States and the world, which messages touted the penny stock as an excellent investment. Davidson possessed hundreds of thousands of e-mail addresses, which he and his sub-spammers would use to send e-mail messages. Such e-mail messages contained false header information, which concealed the actual sender from the recipient of the e-mail,” the DOJ added in a statement.On April 28, Davidson was sentenced to serve twenty-one months in federal prison. He was also ordered to pay $714,139 USD in restitution to the IRS. As part of the restitution, Davidson agreed to forfeit property and items he had purchased with his ill-gotten gains -- these included gold coins, which the IRS is now selling.Authorities say that Davidson was last seen Sunday, and is now officially deemed to be in “escape” status. U.S. Marshals are leading the search for the Spam criminal. The FBI, IRS, and the Rocky Mountain Safe Streets Task Force are also aiding in the search.

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TzizzoJul 23rd, 2008 - 21:19:21

He just walked out, amazing criminal justice system we have these days. This guy steals millions and he's put in a minimum security resort that just lets him walk out. I was reading a history book the other day and read an old arrest record from the 1920's where a guy got 1 year in San Quentin for passing bad checks for the whopping sum of $100. Those were the good ole days.

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chestaJul 25th, 2008 - 10:00:43

They found him.... after killing his wife and 3 year old child.

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Spammer literally walks out of prison

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