Letterman Blackmailed, CBS News Employee Arrested. "I Need to Protect My Family. I Need to Protect Myself. I Hope to Protect My Job"

Letterman_10.2.jpgA CBS News "48 Hours" employee is under arrest accused of trying to blackmail David Letterman. The employee was arrested yesterday, three weeks after a package was left in Letterman's car that included, in Letterman's words "creepy" information about the "Late Show" host.

CBSNews.com reports the employee has been suspended pending the results of the investigation. The employee, who wanted $2 million, is facing charges of first degree attempted grand larceny.

After a monologue that included a joke about the extramarital affair of Gov. Mark Sanford, Letterman sat at his desk and told his audience the story of the attempted extortion culminating in an admission of having "sex with women" who have worked on the show.

Letterman explained the "creepy stuff" the CBS News employee had on him.

"The creepy stuff was that I have had sex with women who work for me on this show," said Letterman "Would it be embarrassing if it were made public? Perhaps it would. Especially for the women."

"It's been a very bizarre experience. I feel like I need to protect these people. I need to certainly protect my family. I need to protect myself. I hope to protect my job," he said, before finishing with a joke. "I know what you're saying, 'I'll be darned, Dave's had sex.'"

The story broke not long after Letterman finished taping his show. In New York, where the criminal case is proceeding, the story was the lead on the late newscasts on WCBS and WABC while it was later in the newscast on WNBC, though it was the first story 'teased' coming out of "The Jay Leno Show."

It was the lead on CNN's Anderson Cooper 360. The Washington Post's TV critic Howard Kurtz, who had been Tweeting about the revelation, was contacted by a CNN producer to be a phone-in guest on the show.

> More: TMZ.com reports the suspect is 51-year-old Robert Halderman who lives in Norwalk, CT.

> More, More: RadarOnline.com reports Halderman went by his middle name "Joe" and lived with one of the women Letterman was involved with.

> Related: TVBarn's Aaron Barnhart: "You know what's creepy? Telling a story about having sex with your employees for laughs."

> More: TheEnterpriseReport.com has more information and photos of Robert "Joe" Halderman and the Ohio native's Dept. of Correction booking details.

> Video after the jump...



Watch CBS News Videos Online

new on mediabistro.com

The Future of Social Media with Chris Anderson

The editor of Wired explains how to create a social network that works.
Watch the video

Email This Post

Fill out the following information and click on the Send button in order to send this post, Letterman Blackmailed, CBS News Employee Arrested. "I Need to Protect My Family. I Need to Protect Myself. I Hope to Protect My Job", to a friend.
Friend's name
Friend's email address
Your name
Your email address
Note to your friend (optional, max 200 Characters)

Read more on TVNewser >

And Now the News...About TV News
TVNewser in Your Inbox
Mobile Version
RSS Feed
Our Blog Network

BayNewser

WebNewser

PRNewser

TVNewser

MediaJobsDaily

AgencySpy

GalleyCat

FishbowlNY

FishbowlDC

FishbowlLA

UnBeige

MobileContentToday

TVNewser Staff
Managing Editor:
Chris Ariens

Editor:
Kevin Allocca

Contributors:
Gail Shister
Alissa Krinsky


Email

Twitter

About
Anonymous Tips

  TVNewser twitter feed loading...

View twitter directly

Follow TVNewser on Twitter



Internsmall9-17.jpgIntern at TVNewser

Archives

November 2009

October 2009

September 2009

August 2009

more...


Links

Broadcasting & Cable

BuzzMachine

FTVLive

Inside Cable News

The Live Feed

Media Decoder

NewsBlues

NewscastStudio

Newslab

Romenesko

TV Barn

TV by the Numbers

TVNewsCheck

TVSpy Watercooler

TVWeek

Variety

Z on TV

Topics

ABC

Al Jazeera

BBC

Bloomberg

CBS

CNBC

CNN

FNC

Fox Biz

HDNet

HLN

MSNBC

NBC

truTV


Awards & Accolades

Cable News Wars

Couric Watch

Exclusives That Aren't

Events

Funny

Generalities

Evening News Ratings

Morning Cable Ratings

Morning Media Menu

Morning Show Ratings

Morning Show Wars

Network Newsing

Now & Then

Ratings

Revolving Door

Site Announcements

State of the News Media

Studies & Research

Sunday Shows

The Ticker

Top Stories

WebNewser

Year in Review


09/11/06

2008 Conventions

A Year Of Katrina

Bird Flu

Court Cases

Hurricane

Iraq

NAB-RTNDA

Obits

Olympics

Politics

The Pope

Questions

Supreme Court

Job Listings

Featured Listings

Executive Assistant to the President & CEO
WNYC Radio
New York, NY

Assistant to the CEO
Fast Growing Firm
New York, NY

HR Generalist
WNYC Radio
New York, NY

Account Executive - Denver
The Bump
Denver, CO

ADVERTISEMENT


mediabistro.com l Member Benefits l Jobs l Freelance Marketplace l Courses l Events l Forums l Content
mediabistro Blogs: Media News l TVNewser l GalleyCat l UnBeige l FishbowlNY l FishbowlLA l FishbowlDC l PRNewser l AgencySpy
MobileContentToday l WebNewser l BayNewser l MediaJobsDaily l mbToolbox
Site Map l Advertising/Sponsorships l Partners l About Us l Contact Us/Help

internet.commediabistro.comJusttechjobs.comGraphics.com

Search:

WebMediaBrands Corporate Info

Legal Notices, Licensing, Reprints, Permissions, Privacy Policy.
Advertise | Newsletters | Shopping | E-mail Offers