Prison avoided in MySpace sex case

NEW BRITAIN, Conn., Aug. 6 (UPI) -- A 22-year-old man who admitted to creating a sexually explicit MySpace page targeting a woman will not go to prison, a Connecticut judge has ruled.

New Britain Superior Judge Joan Alexander ruled Matthew Aiudi will receive a suspended one-year jail sentence for his crimes, but will not be able to use a computer during his accompanying one-year probation sentence, The Hartford (Conn.) Courant said Wednesday.

Tuesday's sentence was part of a plea deal for the defendant, who had been accused of creating a page on the popular social networking Web site that targeted a female friend of his brother's.

Aiudi's former classmate, whose name was not revealed, had alleged that the defendant's actions had caused her to become fearful of strangers.

"Co-workers walk me to my car," the woman testified. "This is really hard on me."

The Courant said Aiudi did apologize to the woman for his illicit actions and pleaded guilty to four counts of second-degree harassment instead of facing a trial.