A former writer for The Roanoke Star-Sentinel has been charged with illegally obtaining e-mails from her ex-boss, apparently in an effort to shed light on a controversial political ad that ran in the newspaper.

Willow Rosenblatt is accused of violating the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, a misdemeanor offense.

Some of the e-mails obtained pertain to a full-page political ad that ran in the Star-Sentinel and The Roanoke Times. The attack ad questioned the credentials of candidate Court Rosen in the closing days of the May 6, 2008, election for Roanoke City Council.

The ad was later found to violate campaign finance laws, in part because its listed sponsor, Citizens for Sensible Decisions, was not registered with the state as a political action committee.

A version of the ad published in The Roanoke Times said it was also paid for by Joe Smith, which turned out to be a false name. Brian Wishneff, then a councilman running for re-election who was involved in writing and placing the ad, said on Election Day that he made the name up.

But in the days before Wishneff acknowledged his role, questions were raised about the ad's origin.

That is when Rosenblatt, who had recently left her position as a freelance sports contributor for the weekly Star-Sentinel, got involved in the controversy.

On the Saturday before the election, Rosenblatt "intentionally accessed a computer without authorization" to obtain e-mails from her former employer, according to an information, or charging document, issued last week by federal prosecutors.

Rosenblatt then forwarded the e-mails to The Roanoke Times. Some of the e-mails suggested that Wishneff was involved in the placement of the ad that ran in the Star-Sentinel.

At the time she provided the messages to The Roanoke Times, Rosenblatt said she accessed them legitimately by using a common password for the paper's e-mail system. The Roanoke Times did not publish the e-mails it received from Rosenblatt.

Stuart Revercomb, publisher of the Star-Sentinel, said he reported the case to federal authorities after learning that two of the paper's e-mail accounts were illegally accessed. Some of the messages contained both personal and company financial information, he said.

A political ally of Wishneff in the past, Revercomb said his paper did not write the ad in question, although it did suggest some revisions to Citizens for Sensible Decisions, the group that submitted and paid for the ad.

Wishneff, who lost the election, was later indicted on two misdemeanor charges of failing to report the ad as a campaign contribution. Prosecutors later dropped the charges after Wishneff paid a $3,700 civil penalty to the State Board of Elections.

Rosenblatt, who is scheduled to appear in court Nov. 16, could not be reached for comment Wednesday.

A spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office said charges such as the one against Rosenblatt are not common.