A man has been arrested for using someone else's wireless Internet network in one of the first criminal cases involving this common practice.

Benjamin Smith III, 41, faces a pretrial hearing this month following his April arrest on charges of unauthorized access to a computer network, a third-degree felony.

According to police, Smith admitted using the Wi-Fi signal from the home of Richard Dinon, who had noticed Smith sitting in an SUV outside Dinon's house using a laptop computer.

The St. Petersburg Times reported that The Florida Department of Law Enforcement does not have statistics on this crime as it is such a new offense.

The use of another person's unsecured Wi-Fi network is common, experts say, however, and illegal use often goes undetected; with people sneaking onto others' networks to traffic in child pornography, steal credit card information, and send death threats.

According to security experts, people can prevent outside access by turning on encryption or requiring passwords, but few bother or are unsure how to do so.

Details regarding Smith's use of Dinon's network is unknown.