Two sparring, good-looking Pennsylvania TV anchors was the basis for the FOX TV comedy, "Back To You." Now, add some email, and the theme turns into three years of probation and other penalties.
In the life can be stranger than fiction category, Larry Mendte, the news anchor for KYW-TV, the CBS affiliate station in Philadelphia, was sentenced to three years of probation for obsessively hacking into his co-anchor of four year's email 537 times and leaking gossip about her to the press.
He must serve six months of home confinement during the three years of probation and must perform 250 hours of community service and pay a $5000 fine.
"My role at the station was still being diminished when Alycia (Lane) told me during an argument on the set that she [was] the rising star and that I was '50 and on my way out,'" Mendte said after his Aug. 22 plea to a single-count information. "I felt I was in trouble," he continued. "My career, my future, my family's future was in trouble. And, this is where I got into more trouble — federal trouble."
In response, he reportedly logged into her email account to get juicy information. The information was then leaked to the press. Prosecutors say he is the only plausible source of damaging leaks concerning a swimsuit photo she sent a friend, married TV sports anchor Rich Eisen. (Alycia Lane in a bikini.) She was fired from her position after a December 16 arrest in New York following a late-night scuffle with police. (Source) Charges were dropped and Lane filed a wrongful dismissal suit.
"The only public life she wanted was her news anchor career. Larry Mendte's criminal conduct destroyed that career and made her a tabloid feeding frenzy," Paul Rosen, Lane's attorney said in a statement Monday.
The FBI began investigating Mendte in the spring, when a station employee stumbled upon a computer that was logged into Lane's private e-mail account — nearly 2 months after she was fired. Mendte reportedly bought and used a keystroke device to access her email. (Fox News)
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