A CBS News “48 Hours” employee is under arrest accused of trying to blackmail David Letterman. The employee was arrested yesterday, three weeks after a package was left in Letterman’s car that included, in Letterman’s words “creepy” information about the “Late Show” host.
CBSNews.com reports the employee has been suspended pending the results of the investigation. The employee, who wanted $2 million, is facing charges of first degree attempted grand larceny.
After a monologue that included a joke about the extramarital affair of Gov. Mark Sanford, Letterman sat at his desk and told his audience the story of the attempted extortion culminating in an admission of having “sex with women” who have worked on the show.
Letterman explained the “creepy stuff” the CBS News employee had on him.
“The creepy stuff was that I have had sex with women who work for me on this show,” said Letterman “Would it be embarrassing if it were made public? Perhaps it would. Especially for the women.”
“It’s been a very bizarre experience. I feel like I need to protect these people. I need to certainly protect my family. I need to protect myself. I hope to protect my job,” he said, before finishing with a joke. “I know what you’re saying, ‘I’ll be darned, Dave’s had sex.'”
The story broke not long after Letterman finished taping his show. In New York, where the criminal case is proceeding, the story was the lead on the late newscasts on WCBS and WABC while it was later in the newscast on WNBC, though it was the first story ‘teased’ coming out of “The Jay Leno Show.”
It was the lead on CNN’s Anderson Cooper 360. The Washington Post’s TV critic Howard Kurtz, who had been Tweeting about the revelation, was contacted by a CNN producer to be a phone-in guest on the show.
> More: TMZ.com reports the suspect is 51-year-old Robert Halderman who lives in Norwalk, CT.
> More, More: RadarOnline.com reports Halderman went by his middle name “Joe” and lived with one of the women Letterman was involved with.
> Related: TVBarn’s Aaron Barnhart: “You know what’s creepy? Telling a story about having sex with your employees for laughs.”
> More: TheEnterpriseReport.com has more information and photos of Robert “Joe” Halderman and the Ohio native’s Dept. of Correction booking details.
> Video after the jump…