MOSCOW, March 15 - RAPSI. The US Department of Justice (DOJ) announced Thursday that Reuters social media editor Matthew Keys was indicted on charges of conspiring with hacker group Anonymous to hack into the website of his former employer, Tribune.

Keys, a 26-year-old New Yorker, formerly served as a web producer for Tribune television station KTXL FOX 40 in California before being fired in October 2010.

The indictment claims that in December 2010 Keys provided members of Anonymous with log-in information for a Tribune server. He allegedly identified himself as a former Tribune employee in an Anonymous chat room before offering up the information and encouraging the group to disrupt the website.

He also stands accused of having tried to assist a hacker whose efforts to gain entry to the website were foiled, and of having commended the individual’s success with hacking into the Los Angeles Times website.

Keys was charged with conspiracy to transmit information to damage a protected computer, transmitting information to damage a protected computer, and attempted transmission of information to damage a protected computer.

He also faces up to 10 years of prison for each substantive count and five years for the conspiracy charge. Each of the three counts carries a maximum fine of $250,000.

Each of the two substantive counts carry a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison, three years of supervised release and a fine of $250,000.  The conspiracy count carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison, three years of supervised release and a fine of $250,000.

Keys posted on his Twitter account: “I am fine. I found out the same way most of you did: From Twitter. Tonight I'm going to take a break. Tomorrow, business as usual.”