Celebrity Investigator Pleads Guilty
Fri Oct 10, 6:09 AM ET
LOS ANGELES - A private detective to celebrities has pleaded guilty to illegal weapons possession following an FBI investigation of alleged Mafia extortion threats against actor Steven Seagal.
Anthony Pellicano, 59, pleaded guilty Thursday to two felony counts of possessing hand grenades and C-4 explosives. He faces up to 33 months in prison at his sentencing Jan. 20.
The Hollywood investigator had previously offered to plead guilty to a single charge if prosecutors dropped the remaining counts. Prosecutors said they were willing to go to trial.
Pellicano could have received 21 years in prison if convicted on all counts, said Thom Mrozek, a spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office.
Pellicano was arrested last November after FBI agents searched his office as part of a probe into threats made to Los Angeles Times reporter Anita Busch, who was investigating a possible connection between Seagal and an alleged Mafia associate.
An ex-convict, Alexander Proctor, is currently awaiting trial after being charged with threatening Busch by planting a dead fish, a rose and a sign reading "Stop" on her car.
Proctor allegedly told an FBI informant he had been hired by Pellicano to carry out the threat on behalf of Seagal. Pellicano and Seagal have denied involvement, and neither has been charged with trying to threaten the reporter.
Fri Oct 10, 6:09 AM ET
LOS ANGELES - A private detective to celebrities has pleaded guilty to illegal weapons possession following an FBI investigation of alleged Mafia extortion threats against actor Steven Seagal.
Anthony Pellicano, 59, pleaded guilty Thursday to two felony counts of possessing hand grenades and C-4 explosives. He faces up to 33 months in prison at his sentencing Jan. 20.
The Hollywood investigator had previously offered to plead guilty to a single charge if prosecutors dropped the remaining counts. Prosecutors said they were willing to go to trial.
Pellicano could have received 21 years in prison if convicted on all counts, said Thom Mrozek, a spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office.
Pellicano was arrested last November after FBI agents searched his office as part of a probe into threats made to Los Angeles Times reporter Anita Busch, who was investigating a possible connection between Seagal and an alleged Mafia associate.
An ex-convict, Alexander Proctor, is currently awaiting trial after being charged with threatening Busch by planting a dead fish, a rose and a sign reading "Stop" on her car.
Proctor allegedly told an FBI informant he had been hired by Pellicano to carry out the threat on behalf of Seagal. Pellicano and Seagal have denied involvement, and neither has been charged with trying to threaten the reporter.
