In what may be the first prison sentence for online auction fraud, a California man has received a 14-month jail term for swindling bidders on eBay.

Robert Guest, 31, of Blue Jay, Calif., was sentenced on Monday by District Judge Gary L. Taylor in a Los Angeles federal court. In addition to 14 months imprisonment, Guest will receive three additional years of supervised release and pay US$101,485 in restitution to his victims.

Guest pleaded guilty to one count of mail fraud in July. Prosecutors say he used the name Darren Jay Farmer to fraudulently post items for sale on online auctioneer eBay, including offers to sell Sony digital cameras and IBM laptop computers. Though Guest cashed the checks and money orders sent by winning bidders, prosecutors say he never delivered the items listed for auction.

In all, authorities estimate that Guest bilked around 30 bidders out of approximately US$37,000.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Christopher Painter, one of the attorneys who prosecuted Guest, said criminal prosecutions are necessary to deter auction fraud.

"It's one thing to just be taken off of the service. It's one thing to have a civil suit slapped against you. It's an entirely different thing to go to prison," Painter said.

"I think this will send a message to the people who are doing it that this is not the last prosecution there will be of this kind of fraud, and we'll see a lot of it around the country."

'Important prosecution'
"It's an innovative and important prosecution," agreed Marc Bernstein, a San Francisco attorney specializing in Internet law. More prosecutors, he said, need to consider criminal penalties for commercial fraud.

Painter said Guest's prior criminal record, and the large amount of money taken, were integral to securing a 14-month sentence. While he would not comment on the specifics of Guest's record, he did say Guest had no prior federal convictions.

In an unrelated scheme, Guest was also sentenced for illegally obtaining a credit card from American National Bank in 1997. That crime was included in Judge Taylor's 14-month sentence.

eBay spokesman Kevin Pursglove said he was very pleased with Monday's outcome.

"We applaud the judge for making it very clear that not only will this judge not have any tolerance, but there is no tolerance at eBay for people who are going to misuse or abuse the system," Pursglove said.

Despite the company's efforts to combat fraud, Pursglove said eBay still has progress to make.

"We've got to work harder at it," he said. "When someone has lost $1,200 for a computer, or $600 for a digital camera, that tells us that we've got to redouble our efforts and work even harder at reducing the opportunities for people to engage in fraud on eBay."

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