Kenneth Fetterman pled guilty in federal court Wednesday to six counts of money laundering for his participation in a ring of fraudulent bidding in hundreds of art auctions on eBay. The case involved three eBay sellers and forged artwork, including a faked Richard Diebenkorn painting.

In March 2001, after learning of an indictment against him, Kenneth Fetterman fled and spent nearly 2 years evading authorities. Fetterman's companion, Terri Ann Galipeaux, was convicted of harboring Fetterman in August 2001 and sentenced to ten months in prison.

Fetterman was arrested in Kansas on January 11, 2003, for marijuana possession and failure to have a driver's license. After being identified through his fingerprints, Fetterman was then held in connection with the federal charges.

Co-conspirator Kenneth A. Walton, a former attorney from Sacramento and founder of eBay-software firm HammerTap, previously pled guilty to three counts of wire fraud and four counts of mail fraud for making "shill" bids on eBay. Co-conspirator Scott Beach of Lakewood, Colorado, pled guilty to one count of wire fraud and three counts of mail fraud.

Sentencing for Walton and Beach is set for June 2, 2004. Walton and Beach may not serve jail time because they entered into a cooperation agreement with prosecutors.

Fetterman admitted as part of his plea that he, along with Walton and Beach, created more than 40 User IDs on eBay using false registration information, and then used those aliases to place fraudulent bids to artificially inflate the prices of literally hundreds of paintings auctioned on eBay from November 1998 to June 2000, according to prosecutors.

Fetterman is scheduled for sentencing on May 11, 2004. Each money-laundering count carries a sentence of up to 20 years imprisonment, a $500,000 fine, and up to a three-year period of supervised release.