Penn student pleads guilty in computer scheme
A University of Pennsylvania undergraduate student arrested in November for participating in an Internet scheme that crashed Penn's computer system pleaded guilty yesterday in federal court.
Ryan Goldstein, 21, of Ambler, a bioengineering student at Penn, pleaded guilty to aiding and abetting another person to gain unauthorized access to a protected computer, the U.S. Attorney's Office announced. U.S. District Judge Michael M. Baylson set sentencing for June 3. Prosecutors estimated that Goldstein could get six months in prison under federal sentencing guidelines.
Goldstein pleaded to a lesser charge than the count of conspiracy to commit computer fraud on which he was indicted by a federal grand jury. Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael L. Levy and defense attorney Ronald H. Levine began plea negotiations, leading to the charge to which Goldstein pleaded guilty. Goldstein was among eight arrested nationwide in an FBI probe. Officials said the attack that crashed Penn's computer server involved 50,000 infected computers.
- Joseph A. Slobodzian
























