Update: "A federal grand jury sitting in Chattanooga on Tuesday will hear the case of (David Kernell) a UT student accused of hacking into the e-mail account of GOP vice presidential nominee, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin." via the Chattanooga Times Free Press
Saturday night, at around midnight, FBI agents showed up at a party at the campus apartment of University of Tennessee student and alleged hacker David Kernell. David is the 20 year old son of Tennessee Democratic lawmaker Mike Kernell. The agents searched Kernell's apartment and subpoenaed his 3 roommates -- who will be required to testify in Chattanooga this week.
According to Wired, Palin's hacker will likely be charged with a misdemeanor, but felony charges remain a possibility.
Washington Post:
According to a witness, several agents arrived at The Commons of Knoxville apartment block around midnight, took down the names of everyone at the party and then spent the next 1.5 to 2 hours taking pictures of everything inside the apartment. So far it looks like there are no publicly available search warrants, and no charges have been filed. Give it time. Witnesses say Kernell and his friends fled the apartment while his three roommates were subpoenaed.
It turns out that David Kernell is the son of Mike Kernell, a Democratic state representative from Memphis, and the blogosphere - especially right wing bloggers - has been cock-a-hoop about the possibility that the hacker in question is Kernell and the action was engineered by the Democractic Party. That includes Knoxville blogger and WBIR contributor Terry Frank who is helpfully (but with no basis in fact) posting images of Kernell's Facebook page, although she has removed his mobile phone number. Nice touch.
AP: FBI searches apartment in Palin hacking case
Chattanooga Grand Jury Could Hear Testimony On Alleged Hacking Of Sarah Palin E-Mail
TGW: Palin Hacker Appears to be Son of TN Lawmaker Mike Kernell
Sarah Palin Email Tennessee News Democratic Politics Hacker David Kernell Mike Kernell
