Former prosecutor: Astros hacker will likely get 2-3 years in prison

Former St. Louis Cardinals scouting director Christopher Correa pleaded guilty to five counts of unauthorized access to computer information earlier this month, and former prosecutor Peter Toren believes the prospect of jail time is very high.

"Based on the guidelines and the loss to the victim, I think that there is a very, very high likelihood that he's going to serve at least two to three years in prison," Toren told Evan Drellich of the Houston Chronicle.

The Astros first reported a data breach in June 2014 after they uncovered that hackers had accessed several servers and published articles involving numerous internal reports. Correa told the court that he breached Houston's network under suspicion that they had illegally obtained data from the Cardinals, his employer at the time.

Upon gaining access by deciphering the password of a former Cardinals employee, Correa downloaded or viewed 118 pages containing confidential information, valued at $1.7 million by a judge.

"One of the purposes of prosecuting and convicting criminal cases is deterrents to prevent other people from engaging in similar conduct," Toren said. "In a case like this, that has widespread press, the government is going to look at it as having meaningful deterrent value."

Correa, who has since been fired by the Cardinals following an imposed leave of absence, faces a maximum penalty on each of the five counts of up to five years in prison, and/or a fine of up to $250,000. A sentencing hearing is scheduled for April 11.