Fergie's Tech Blog

U.S. Attorney Says 'Rizler' Threatened to Kill Witness

Brian McWillaims writes on the Spam Kings blog:

Just when it seemed his case couldn't get any weirder, new charges have been filed against spam king and online drugstore operator Christopher Smith, aka "Rizler."

According to a WCCO-TV report out of Minnesota, Smith was indicted yesterday for threatening to kill a prosecution witness in his upcoming trial over illegally operating an online drug store and other charges.

Seems Smith phoned a friend from Sherburne County Jail earlier this month and allegedly discussed plans to intimidate a witness and even have the witness or his/her family killed, to prevent the witness from testifying against him.

Apparently Smith didn't know the jail was monitoring and recording all calls made by Smith to numbers not linked with his defense attorney.

At his arraignment today, Smith pleaded not guilty.

posted by Fergie @ 3/23/2006 08:56:00 AM