A California jury found journalist Matthew Keys guilty on three criminal counts related to helping members of the Anonymous hacking collective gain access to a former employer's computers, the U.S. Department of Justice said on Wednesday. 
Online profile picture of Matthew Keys
Matthew Keys, former deputy social media editor for Reuters.com, is seen in his online profile in this undated photo. Reuters
Keys, 28, was indicted in 2013 for conspiracy to cause damage to a protected computer and two other counts, after being accused of giving hackers access to Tribune Co. computer systems in December 2010. A story on the Tribune's Los Angeles Times website was soon altered by one of those hackers, the indictment said. 
Tor Ekeland, an attorney for Keys, said he would appeal the verdict. 
A spokesman for Tribune Media Co, Gary Weitman, said: "We are pleased that the justice system worked. We will let today's verdict speak for itself." 
Sentencing is scheduled for January 2016. The Justice Department has not determined what sentence it will request, but it will likely be less than five years, spokeswoman Lauren Horwood said. 
The alleged events in the indictment occurred before Keys joined Thomson Reuters as a Reuters.com editor in 2012. A month after Keys was charged, he said Reuters dismissed him. A Thomson Reuters representative declined to comment.