LOS ANGELES-
A former phone company employee was acquitted Monday on four perjury charges related to the wiretapping case against Hollywood private eye Anthony Pellicano, and the jury deadlocked on the fifth count.
Joann Wiggan, 52, was one of three SBC employees who were alleged to have supplied a former co-worker with information from confidential databases. She was accused of lying to a grand jury about her activities.
Wiggan’s attorney, David Reed, described his client as a “soccer mom who’s never been in trouble.” He said the verdict “is akin to David beating Goliath.”
Assistant U.S. Attorney Daniel Saunders said the verdict would have no impact on the Pellicano case.
“The charges against Ms. Wiggan are completely different from those contained in the separate indictment against Anthony Pellicano,” said Saunders.
The government claimed that Wiggan helped Ray Turner, a retired SBC employee, with information that aided Pellicano’s alleged criminal enterprise. Wiggan, who pleaded not guilty and testified in her own defense, said whatever calls she made to or received from Turner had nothing to do with accessing private phone records for Pellicano.
Prosecutors contend that Pellicano illegally wiretapped the phones of Hollywood stars such as Sylvester Stallone and bribed police officers to run the names of more than 60 people, including comedians Garry Shandling and Kevin Nealon, through government databases. The information gathered was used to get dirt for threats, blackmail and in some cases to secure a tactical advantage in litigation, court documents allege.
Fourteen people have been charged in the case, with six pleading guilty to a variety of charges, including conspiracy and wire fraud. Pellicano has pleaded not guilty to racketeering and wiretapping charges and is scheduled to face trial in February.
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