Son of Democratic Tennessee State Lawmaker Indicted for Palin Hack

The mystery is solved. David Kernell, the son of Democratic Tennessee state lawmaker Mike Kernell handed himself in Wednesday and was indicted for hacking the email account of Alaska Governor and Vice Presidential candidate, Sarah Palin.

A couple of weeks back, a local TV station reported the FBI searched a students apartment, largely believed to be the residence of David Kernell. Several FBI agents arrived at the Commons apartment complex in Knoxville, Tennessee around midnight where students were having a party. They showed their badges, took names and then asked everyone that didn’t live in the unit to leave. Witnesses say 20-year-old David Kernell and his friends fled the scene once the FBI arrived and that agents spent between an hour and a half and two hours taking pictures of the apartment.

Following this report, several media outlets reported that Kernell may not be the culprit. The user name “Rubico” was traced to David Kernell and despite the fact that Kernell’s father confirmed his son was the person the blogosphere was talking about, speculation from the proxy site the hacker used in the attack suggested the younger Kernell could be innocent.

The Tennessee State student was indicted today and if convicted faces a $250,000 fine, a maximum of five years in the clink and three years of supervised release.