The son of a prominent Democratic Tennessee state lawmaker was indicted Tuesday on charges of hacking into the Yahoo Web mail account of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin.

David C. Kernell, 20, of Knoxville, was indicted by a federal grand jury on a single count of accessing Palin’s e-mail without permission. The FBI said Kernell turned himself in to federal authorities and will be arraigned today.

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Kernell is the son of Tennessee State Representative Mike Kernell, who acknowledged shortly after the incident that authorities had contacted his son in connection with the investigation.

According to the indictment, on Sept. 16, Kernell broke into Palin’s Yahoo account by guessing the answers to her pre-selected “Secret Questions” that must be answered before Yahoo will let users reset e-mail account passwords. Authorities say Kernell read Palin’s e-mail messages and then made and posted online screenshots of the e-mail inbox, along with the new password to her account.

Son of Tenn. Lawmaker Indicted in Palin E-Mail Hack – Security Fix.