University of Tennessee student David Kernell, 20, was indicted Wednesday (October 8) on one charge of violating the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act in connection with his alleged hacking of the e-mail account of Republican vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin.

Kernell, the son of longtime Democratic state Representative Mike Kernell, pleaded not guilty to the charges Wednesday morning in a federal court in Knoxville, Tennessee, according to an Associated Press report. The plea came on the same day that prosecutors unsealed an indictment in the case in which they allege that Kernell intentionally accessed Palin's private e-mail account without authorization.

The indictment alleges that Kernell reset the password on Palin's e-mail account to gain access to it and then posted the new password, "popcorn," in a Web forum, according to a Wired report. Once posted, at least one other person, who was not named in the indictment, reportedly used the password to get unauthorized access to Palin's account.

Once Kernell feared that law-enforcement officials were on his trail, the indictment alleges he "removed, altered, concealed and covered up" the files on his laptop. Kernell's father has said he had nothing to do with the hacking incident.

The economics student, who was brought into court wearing handcuffs and shackles on his ankles, was released without posting bond. The court has forbidden him from owning a computer and limited his Internet use to checking e-mail and doing class work; barred him from discussing the case with any potential witnesses, including his roommates; and ordered him to have no contact with Palin or her family. He faces a maximum of five years in prison, a $250,000 fine and three years of supervised release. If he violates any of the conditions set by the judge, he could be held until the trial, which is slated to start December 16.

Last month, FBI agents searched Kernell's apartment less than a week after the September 16 hacking of Palin's account, which resulted in screenshots of the account's e-mail directory, shots of a number of mostly personal e-mails and other personal information being posted on a public Web site.

Get informed! Head to Choose or Lose for nonstop coverage of the 2008 presidential election, including everything from the latest news on the candidates to on-the-ground multimedia reports from our 51 citizen journalists, MTV and MySpace's Presidential Dialogues, and much more.