The University of Tennessee college student that hacked into Sarah Palin’s e-mail account has been formally charged with fraud and obstruction of justice. David Kernell, who is the son of a Tennessee democratic legislator, has pleaded not guilty to all charges.

The story about Sarah Palin’s e-mail account became a hot topic, after the hacker posted screenshots of her personal e-mail messages and revealed how easy it was to change the password to the account by simply responding to a series of “secret” questions, whose answers were at the reach of an Internet search.

The hack came just as questions on Sarah Palin’s use of her e-mail account for government business started to emerge. Palin was believed to have used personal e-mail to solve political matters and then cover the story (while Palin must always keep copies of official e-mails, she is entitled to delete personal messages).

However, the hacker found nothing of public interest in Sarah Palin's account, as he and an entire nation would have probably expected.

The hacker was indicted in October last year on one felony count of violating the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. Now, the hacker is also facing charges of identity theft. He was also accused of attempting to destroy evidence, and faces a maximum of 20 years in prison, as well as a $250,000 fine.