Investigators in Hewlett-Packard Scandal Arraigned
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Three private investigators who obtained confidential telephone records as part of Hewlett-Packard Co.’s boardroom spying probe pleaded not guilty Tuesday to identity theft and other felony charges.
Ronald DeLia of Massachusetts-based Security Outsourcing Solutions Inc., Matthew DePante of Florida-based Action Research Group Inc., and Bryan Wagner of Colorado were arraigned in Santa Clara County Superior Court. Each was released on personal recognizance.
Messrs. DeLia, Wagner and Depante went through a similar routine faced last week by former H-P Chairwoman Patricia Dunn and ex-H-P senior counsel Kevin Hunsaker. If convicted on all counts, the five each face a maximum of 12-1/2 years in prison.
Matthew Depante is the son of Joseph Depante of investigative firm Action Research Group of Melbourne, Fla.; the elder Mr. Depante originally was implicated in the criminal inquiry.
The charges stem from the now-infamous investigations H-P launched in 2005 and 2006 in an attempt to ferret out the source of leaks of confidential information from board meetings. The three are accused of using Social Security numbers, misrepresenting themselves and using other potentially illegal methods to get phone records of H-P board members and employees, as well as for journalists that follow H-P.
The first investigation, code-named Kona I, ended without any concrete findings, but the second probe called Kona II and directed by Hunsaker determined that former H-P director George Keyworth was the source of the leaks. Keyworth quit the H-P board on Sept. 12. The three investigators are accused of impersonating H-P board members, employees and journalists to trick telephone companies into divulging their private phone logs. Mr. DeLia, a longtime H-P contractor on security investigations, was allegedly the middleman between H-P and the other two investigators.
According to an affidavit filed in support of the charges, Dunn worked with DeLia on H-P’s ultimately unsuccessful media-leak investigation in 2005.