SEATTLE -- Federal prosecutors hoping to send a message to spammers began calling witnesses Friday in a three-day sentencing hearing for 'Spam King" Robert Soloway.

Robert Soloway sent millions of e-mails a day and made more than $1 million over four years, investigators said.

Prosecutors asked a judge to sentence Soloway to nine years in prison and fine him between $400,000 and $1 million. He pleaded guilty in March to fraud, e-mail fraud and tax evasion.

David Reel, who runs a landscaping business near Tampa, Florida, testified his business computers were inundated with spam in 2006.

"The e-mail volume that was coming in was so great I couldn't really discern who were my customers -- were these some of my legitimate customers who were sending me pictures of the yards they want me to landscape?"

Reel said he estimated dealing with spam from Soloway cost him about $3,000 in lost business and lost time.

Federal prosecutors said there are thousands of people like Reel.

The maximum sentence Soloway could receive is 20 years in prison.

Soloway's attorneys said a sentence of more than two years would be disproportionate to the crime.

They asked for leniency because Soloway allegedly suffers from Turrett's Syndrome and has other behavioral problems that could cause him trouble in prison.