A Florida man was found guilty of stealing data from customer information management company Acxiom Friday. The prosecution estimates that Scott Levine and his defunct bulk e-mail marketing firm Snipermail.com stole more than 1.6 billion customer records by hacking into an Acxiom server.

A jury in Little Rock, Ark., convicted Levine, of Boca Raton, on 120 counts of unauthorized access of a protected computer, two counts of access device fraud and one count of obstruction of justice. The jury cleared him of 13 counts of unauthorized access of a protected computer, one count of conspiracy and one count of money laundering.

"Those who steal private information can expect to be aggressively investigated and brought to justice," Deputy Assistant Attorney General Laura Parsky, said in a Friday statement from the U.S. Department of Justice.

The criminal investigation was jointly conducted by the FBI and the U.S. Secret Service, Criminal Investigation Division. Levine was charged on July 21, 2004, with breaking into an Acxiom computer database to steal personal data. Levine and other Snipermail staff downloaded around 8.2G bytes of personal data from the Acxiom server between April 2002 and August 2003, according to the Justice Department.

Levine's case went to trial on July 11, 2005, and the jury started its deliberations on Aug. 10. Sentencing by U.S. District Court Judge William Wilson is set for Jan. 9, 2006. The maximum sentences for Levine's convictions would total 640 years in prison and/or fines of $30.75 million. Each count of which he's been convicted has a maximum associated fine of $250,000, while maximum prison time for each of the offenses range between five and 20 years.

Several former Snipermail employees testified against Levine that they and he had conspired to cover up physical evidence relating to the break-ins and data theft.

"This case sends a clear message that cybercrime will not be tolerated, and Acxiom is satisfied and pleased by the verdict," Acxiom said in a statement released Friday. "We believe this case sets an example and will deter others who may be attempting, or even contemplating, attacks on data security."

Since the security breaches were first uncovered and stopped in the summer of 2003, Acxiom has committed to better protecting its systems and the data those systems contain, according to the company.

The IDG News Service is a Network World affiliate.