Larry Mendte Sentenced

[richlevy]

This is a local Philadelphia story about an aging new anchor who installed a key logger on a rivals computer and leaked damaging information to the press. He has just blown his 700K job and career, faces house arrest, and is looking at a humongous lawsuit.

From here

PHILADELPHIA - A former TV newsman in Philadelphia who said he felt threatened by his co-anchor's "rising star" was sentenced Monday to 6 months of house arrest after hacking into her e-mail and leaking gossip that contributed to her downfall.

Larry Mendte, 51, admitted hacking into KYW-TV co-anchor Alycia Lane's e-mail hundreds of times, both before and after the city's CBS affiliate fired her in January. Mendte had been an anchor at Chicago's WBBM-TV from 1991 to 1996.

"I made my job too important," he said in court Monday. "In believing that I was protecting the well-being of my children and my family, I put them both in jeopardy."

That being said, she was no angel either.

The twice-divorced Lane, 36, vehemently denies any impropriety and has sued Mendte for invasion of privacy and on other grounds.

The pair anchored the evening newscasts on KYW from 2004 to January, when Lane was fired after a Dec. 16 arrest in New York following a late-night scuffle with police. The charges were later dropped as part of a pretrial diversion program. She has a wrongful-termination suit pending against KYW.

If they KYW used or were influenced by any of the info Larry dredged up, they are in deep ***t.

[TheMercenary]

KYw. Heh.

[classicman]

I'm not sure what to think about this. I don't think the station knew what he was doing. Do you think the punishment fit the crime?

[Clodfobble]

The private information he leaked effectively destroyed the career of his coworker. In return, he's had his own career destroyed, and been given 6 months of house arrest with his wife and kids. I don't think it's too out of line.

[classicman]

Don't forget the $2500 fine and the 250 hours of community service.

[ZenGum]

$2500! My goodness, he can't afford that! That's more than a day's pay. Well, it was before he was fired.

[richlevy]

Originally Posted by ZenGum

$2500! My goodness, he can't afford that! That's more than a day's pay. Well, it was before he was fired.

This is just a warm up for the civil suit. Mendte's only hope is that his wife can convince Lane that she's a victim too.

[classicman]

Originally Posted by classicman

Don't forget the $2500 fine and the 250 hours of community service.

SARCASM!

[ZenGum]

Hehehe. I forgot my [irony] tags, too.

Now I am wondering, what information did he leak? If it was true, and relevant enough to affect her employment, does that count as legitimate investigative journalism? I guess not, since he was fired.