By L.D.Williams Jr.

Take a second to imagine this, you log on to your computer and check your e-mails when you log on to your e-mail account you get an arbitrary message from a sender named "lora preister" with an e-mail title that says "hi". As you look at the e-mail you realize that you don't know anybody named lora preister so you begin to question why some random person would send you an email with an innocuous title.

When you click on the email the body of the e-mail it reads something like this: "I will do anything you ask me to at www.nicekelly dot com". At this point, your cell phone begins to vibrate, as you flip your phone up you see the envelope fly across the screen indicating that you are receiving a text message. When you hit the read button the text message it reads: 'Kasino play 5 games 4 $19.99!?!'. You close your cell phone to refocus on your original business on the computer.

You log on to www.dcmusicandmodels.com and you are posting something on the message boards when you notice an undesired, unsolicited advertisement is posted on the message board. If you have ever experienced one, two or all three of these spam situations then you may feel like you are electronically imprisoned by spam.

Guess what? The alleged king of the notorious electronic nuisance is about to literally be imprisoned. Robert Soloway, 28, pled guilty to charges of tax evasion and fraud in Seattle on March 14th, 2008. Soloway was originally arrested as a result of charges brought on him by the United States Justice Department in May of 2007.

His recent arrest is not the first time that Soloway has had any dealings with the judicial system. In addition to losing several civil cases in 2005, Microsoft won a civil suit against him. The software giant was awarded $7.8 million in damages. He avoided paying any fines in those cases. Soloway's ability to be elusive in regards to charges and fines caused the notorious spammer to boast about his spamming ability on a 2005 discussion group post saying, "I've been sued for hundreds of millions of dollars and have had my business running for over 10 years without ever paying a dime regardless to the outcome of any lawsuits."

He has been able to duck out on fines and formal charges but his streak of luck may be over. In addition to facing his most recent charges he has agreed to discuss his financial assets while being monitored by a lie detector. Setting spam on to the world has proved to be profitable for Soloway. According to his plea agreement he made over $300, 000 in 2005 from his spam operations.

Microsoft senior attorney Aaron Kornblum thinks Soloway's prosecution is significant because "There have not been a large number of criminal CAN-SPAM prosecutions in the U.S."

The prosecution is has been seeking $700,000 since he was charged almost a year ago. Soloway will be sentenced on June 20th, 2008 and he faces up to 26 years in prison.

The United States Justice Department may use Soloway's case to set a precedent ob the issue of spamming in the United States. While the legal system has been unable to catch him in the past, they are serious about catching him now and the message to spammers is clear: watch what you do with the keyboard or meet the board. The parole board that is.