Man breaks into ex-wife's e-mail, sends porn link

~ Alfred L. Seals pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 20 days in jail for tampering with computer data.

A Cape Girardeau man accused of breaking into his ex-wife's e-mail and sending her family pornographic pictures of the woman was sentenced Wednesday to 20 days in jail.

On the day his bench trial was scheduled to begin, Alfred L. Seals, 47, of 2816 Themis St., pleaded guilty to misdemeanor tampering with computer data Wednesday.

Around Feb. 25, Seals gained access to his ex-wife's Yahoo! e-mail account without her consent by using her password, according to assistant prosecuting attorney Michael Linsenmeyer.

With the woman's account, Seals e-mailed his ex-wife's family a Web site link and message stating, "something nice to see," a probable-cause statement read.

The link took users to a Web site that contained several pornographic pictures Seals took of the woman when they were married, the statement read.

The woman, who lives out of state, made the discovery Feb. 28 and suspected her ex-husband.

When questioned by police May 4, Seals admitted to sending the e-mail on Feb. 25 and to accessing his ex-wife's account in April to examine its contents, according to the statement.

With Seals' guilty plea, prosecutors dropped a second misdemeanor charge of tampering with computer data for the April violation, Linsenmeyer said.

Associate Circuit Judge Gary A. Kamp followed prosecutors' sentencing recommendation and ordered Seals to serve 20 days in jail, with credit for time served.