Prosecutors: Nebraska man to plead guilty in Los Angeles in Scientology cyber attack

Neb. man agrees to plea in Scientology Web attack

LOS ANGELES — Federal prosecutors in California say a Nebraska man will plead guilty to participating in a cyber attack on Church of Scientology Web sites in January 2008.

Thom Mrozek, a spokesman for the U.S. attorney’s office in Los Angeles, says Brian Thomas Mettenbrink agreed to plead guilty Monday to the misdemeanor charge of unauthorized access of a protected computer. He faces a year in federal prison.

Court records say Mettenbrink attacked Scientology Web sites as part of Anonymous, an underground group that protests the Church of Scientology, accusing it of Internet censorship.

Prosecutors say hackers conducted a “denial of service” attack, in which computers flood a target Web site with malicious Internet traffic, making it unavailable to legitimate users.

Prosecutors say Mettenbrink, of Grand Island, Neb., is expected to enter his plea next week in Los Angeles, where the Church of Scientology is based.