Letterman's Alleged Extortioner Pleads Not Guilty; Freed On $200,000 Bail

Robert "Joe" Halderman, the CBS News producer accused of extorting $2 million from comedian and late night television fixture David Letterman, pled not guilty and was released on $200,000 bond Friday afternoon by a New York judge.

This story is certainly layered with irony. Halderman, a producer for 48 hours a true-crime show who is now charged with having committed a true-crime — attempted first-degree grand larceny.

Haldeman allegedly told the married Letterman that he would expose his sexual affairs and that his world would "collapse around him" but it is Halderman's world that appears to be in ruins.

Letterman admitted on the air that over the years he had sex with women on his show's staff.

 

But details about Halderman's life that the journalist would have no doubt preferred to be private have gone public, like the court contest between himself and his ex-wife over the $6,800 a month in alimony he was paying.

Or the $1,500 a month his wife claimed he was getting from his live-in girlfriend who reportedly was one of the staffers with whom Letterman had an affair.

If the allegations weren't so serious, with a five to 15 year prison sentence possible, the tale would have the feel of a Road Runner cartoon, with Wile Coyote standing soot-covered, holding an exploded stick of dynamite as the Road Runner, the intended victim, "beep-beeped" and scurried for the hills.

An excerpt from the Associated Press' coverage:

Assistant District Attorney Judy Salwen told the judge Halderman was in debt, but did not elaborate. "The evidence is compelling," she said. "It shows the defendant is desperate, and he is capable of doing anything."

The prosecutor said Halderman gave the talk show host a package of materials that "contained clear, explicit and actual threats that indicate this defendant (wanted to) destroy the reputation of Mr. Letterman and to submit him and his family to humiliation and ridicule."

Halderman, hands cuffed behind his back, stared at the floor during most of the hearing and said only, "not guilty."

His lawyer, Gerald Shargel, said Halderman worked at CBS for 27 years and had no prior criminal record. He described him as an involved father, who coached soccer, baseball and football for his two children, ages 11 and 18.

"This story is far more complicated than what you heard this afternoon," Shargel said outside of court, but he would not elaborate.

Halderman was ordered in 2007 to pay his ex-wife $6,800 per month in child and spousal support until May 2011, when the payments will be reduced to $5,966 until May 2014, according to papers filed in Stamford Superior Court.

He had asked for a reduction to $2,039 per month because his ex-wife, Patty Montet, was sharing a house in New Canaan with a man. But Montet argued - and the judge agreed - that her living arrangement was for convenience and not romantic.

Montet also claimed Halderman was getting $1,500 a month from his live-in girlfriend, Stephanie Birkitt, who was an assistant to Letterman on the "Late Show" and frequently appeared on camera with the host in comedy bits. Halderman earned about $214,000 in 2007.

"Mr. Halderman claims he is struggling financially, but it is difficult to see what, other than mismanagement and extravagant spending, is the reason for this," Montet's attorneys said in the court file. "His is a world of golf trips, vacations, increasing 401k assets, comprehensive benefits, security in employment, earnings as an award-winning producer for CBS, and home
ownership."

Prosecutors say Halderman demanded $2 million last month in exchange for not releasing information that would ruin Letterman's reputation. Letterman told his viewers Thursday that the threat concerned sexual liaisons with female staffers.

The district attorney's office said Halderman left a letter and other material for Letterman early Sept. 9. He wrote that he needed "to make a large chunk of money" by selling Letterman a screenplay treatment - an entertainment-business term for a synopsis used to pitch a screenplay.