Staff Writer

The man convicted of stealing credit and debit card numbers from Hannaford Bros. customers will spend the next 20 years in federal prison after his sentencing.

Albert Gonzalez, 28, who last lived in Miami, was sentenced twice last week for his roles in breaking into computer networks of retail chains including Scarborough-based Hannaford Bros., and 7-Eleven and credit card processor Hartland Payment Systems.

The sentence handed down March 25 in U. S. District Court in Boston by Judge Douglas Woodcock called for 20 years and a day, to be served concurrently with the 20-year sentence handed down the day before in the same court.

Gonzalez pleaded guilty of conspiring to hack into computer networks of retail chains in January in a plea agreement that called for a sentence of 17 to 25 years that could not be appealed.

Federal authorities have described Gonzalez as part of a wider ring that broke into transaction software for retail companies and stole as many as 40 million credit and debit card numbers.

The 165-store Hannaford Bros. chain, owned by Belgian conglomerate Delhaize Corp., had its systems hacked from November 2007 through March 2008, according to documents filed in U.S. District Court as part of a civil suit.

In returning the suit to the Maine Supreme Judicial Court because of questions about state law regarding negligence claims, Judge D. Brock Hornby said the security breach led to the loss of 4.2 million credit and debit card numbers, PIN numbers, security codes and other information.

No date has been set for a Supreme Judicial Court hearing.

Staff writer David Harry can be reached at 282-4337, ext. 219