The charge brings up to a maximum of five years in prison.

An Air Force cadet has been found guilty of hacking into a North Carolina company_s computer system and causing $6,300 in damage. Christopher D. Wiest, 21, a junior at the Air Force Academy, was found innocent on two other computer hacking charges by a military jury on Friday. Wiest faces up to five years in military prison, expulsion from the academy and discharge from the service. During the five-day trial, Air Force prosecutors presented evidence they said showed Wiest used a computer at the academy in late 1997 to illegally enter the systems of three companies, causing roughly $80,000 in damage. Prosecutors said Wiest hacked into the computers of Interlink Communications, a North Carolina company that provides Internet access, and set up dozens of versions of programs used for Internet chat sessions. The programs slowed down Interlink_s system and required several days of work to repair. The government alleged Wiest, using someone_s Internet nickname, then jumped electronically to two other companies, Bunting.com of Dallas and Touche Inc. of Pleasanton, Calif., and erased data or planted destructive programs in their systems. Defense attorneys admitted Wiest had gone into Interlink_s system, but they said he was duped by a North Carolina man into thinking he was allowed to be there. They denied Wiest went into the other systems. After four hours of deliberation, the jury found Wiest guilty of going into Interlink_s system and setting up the programs. They concluded he didn_t intentionally cause the damage but had acted recklessly. Both sides presented hundreds of printed pages of computer logs and the equivalent of more than a million pages of evidence on computer tapes during the trial. Wiest, who is from Pittsburgh, continued to attend classes at the academy as the investigation and trial proceeded.