Spam rage lands man in US jail

Booher threatened to send a ‘‘package full of Anthrax spores’’ to the company, to ‘‘disable’’ an employee with a bullet and torture him with a power drill and ice pick; and to hunt down and castrate the employees unless they removed him from their e-mail list, prosecutors said.

On Friday, Booher admitted he had behaved badly. ‘‘Here’s what happened: I go to their website and start complaining to them, could you please, please, please stop bothering me,’’ he said.

The Sunnyvale, California man now faces up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine, with a preliminary hearing scheduled for next month. He said he did not own any guns or have access to anthrax. Booher said the problem stemmed from a program he mistakenly downloaded from the Internet that brought a continuous stream of advertising to his computer.

The object of the Californian’s anger was Douglas Mackay, president of DM Contact Management, which works for Albion Medical, a firm advertising the ‘‘only reliable, medically approved penis enhancement’’. —Reuters