3 charged with redirecting Comcast site traffic

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Federal prosecutors in Philadelphia have charged three men with diverting traffic from the Web site of telecom giant Comcast last year.

Authorities today charged 19-year-old Christopher Allen Lewis of Newark, Del., 20-year-old James Robert Black, Jr., Tumwater, Wash., and 27-year-old Michael Paul Nebel of Kalamazoo, Mich. They are charged with conspiring to disrupt service of Comcast’s consumer site, comcast.net.

Investigators say the men redirected traffic to a site they controlled on May 28, 2008, costing Comcast about $128,000.

A spokeswoman for prosecutors says the men are expected to have court appearances next week in their respective states.