David Letterman Extortion Case Round-Up: Blackmailer is a CBS Employee
More news on the David Letterman case: gossip site TMZ.com has identified the extortionist as 51-year-old Norwalk, Connecticut resident Robert Joe Halderman. CBS News ID's him as a CBS employee, while Radar Online has the scoop that Halderman works on the newsmagazine "48 Hours" and "lived with the woman who David was involved with." The Radar report elaborates that the affair happened before the birth of Letterman's 6-year-old son Harry, but he was living with now-wife Regina Lasko at the time.
In an update, TMZ reports that Halderman has been suspended pending results of the investigation.
Hollywood blogger Nikki Finke has this statement from CBS:
CBS was made aware of an ongoing police investigation involving David Letterman and an employee at 48 Hours, who was subsequently arrested earlier today on charges of attempted grand larceny in the first degree. CBS is cooperating fully with the authorities and the employee has been suspended pending the results of the investigation. Mr. Letterman addressed the issue during the show’s broadcast this evening, and we believe his comments speak for themselves.The show's airing is still a couple hours away here on the West Coast, but HitFix blogger Daniel Fienberg Twitters that "Letterman just spun the extortionist as a Puritanical nerd and got cheers for sleeping with staffers."
Update: The New York Daily News is now reporting that according to "public records," 31-year-old Stephanie Birkitt once lived with Joe Halderman.
7 comments :
The Daily News says Stephanie Birkitt is 31 years old, but the Wikipedia article you linked to gives her birthday as January 7, 1975. It cites her bio on The Late Show Web site, but its link to that page seems not to be valid now.
Wow, so Dave Letterman is a typical red-blooded male after all.... snooze....I am the only person who couldn't care less about this? Its none of our business really.It's between Dave, his wife Regina and the woman Dave was boning.
Besides, Regina seems to have forgiven Dave (she did marry him). And its not like Dave is a political figure like Mark Sanford or John Edwards. He's just a lanky dude who makes smartass remarks.
This doesn't really change my opinion of him. He's still the funniest, most entertaining man on network TV and I will continue to watch his show every day of my life until he or I drop dead.
Hey Conan...say goobye to your ratings...for sure!!!
- Octobrain
PUBLICITY ST-oh wait.
That Birkitt usually brought out winnings in the Know Your Current Events segments. Although Dave called her Vicky and she him Mr. Carney or somethinig like that (lame jokes and weird thoughts start to creep in my mind).
Who/when/where is just speculation everywhere though, and that Wiki article when i checked had a sentence with three question marks, so yeah. Generally - don't care, just hope it won't force Dave to quit (i smell some more fire Dave rallies).
Its sick when people do these type of things I hope that everything works out for him and his wife.
How are you going to walk into a bank and expect to cash a 2 million dollar check?? bad move, idiot deserved to get caught.
I always found Stephanie freaking HOT so I commend it to Dave for tappin that. She is hilarious and her appearances on the show were awesome and I couldnt get enough of her. Too bad she wont be seen at all anymore.
@Justin: I also dont think people should make such a huge deal about this. Its just like you said. Dave is a common red-blooded guy if you get past his celebrity status, and its all good in my book. And this doesnt change who he is as an entertainer and host. He will still be the best in the business, no matter how many staffers he boned.
@Steve K.: I also hope the pressure this incident will put on Dave and his family, wont force him to go into early retirement. I would HATE to see that happen.
@Chris Brown: whats so sick about a guy thinking with his dick? if you find that sick, then all males in the world are sick. Show me a guy who at least hasnt CONSIDERED cheating or thinks about it on a regular basis, and Ill give you a prize. (a guide on how to get off your moral high horse).
@constantgina: he didnt try to cash the check. He deposited it into his account.
Santiago
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