Tumwater man accused of stealing Comcast traffic

Federal prosecutors in Philadelphia have charged a Tumwater man and two others with diverting traffic from the Web site of telecom giant Comcast last year.

Authorities on Thursday charged James Robert Black Jr., 20, of Tumwater; Christopher Allen Lewis, 19, of Newark, Del.; and Michael Paul Nebel, 27, of Kalamazoo, Mich. They are charged with conspiring to disrupt service of Comcast’s consumer site, comcast.net.

Investigators say the men redirected traffic to a site they controlled May 28, 2008, costing Comcast about $128,000. The men are expected to appear in court next week in their respective states.