EXCLUSIVE: CBS Producer Arrested For Extortion Lived With Woman Who Slept With Letterman; New Details From Search Warrant
Oct. 2 2009, Published 11:11 a.m. ET
A NYPD source has told RadarOnline.com that the suspect under arrest in the David Letterman extortion case is an Emmy-Award winning producer for CBS’s 48 Hours, Robert Halderman.
Halderman, 51, is charged with attempted grand larceny. He will appear in court Friday for his arraignment.
Halderman often went by his middle name Joe and currently has a residence in Connecticut.
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RadarOnline.com has also learned that the alleged extortionist lived with one of the women whom David was once involved with. RadarOnline.com has learned that woman's name is Stephanie Birkitt.
Birkitt still works on Letterman's show, but is no longer involved with the talk show host.
The affair happened a long time ago, before his son Harry was born, and before he got married, but he was living with his wife to be at the time.
Police say Halderman needed money and decided to target Letterman.
The scandal became public Thursday when Letterman told his audience that he received a package from someone three weeks ago claiming to have evidence of improper relations between him and Late Show employees and threatened to reveal them to the public unless he paid $2 million.
The extortionist was given a phony $2 million check and his arrest followed that transaction.
A source close to the situation told RadarOnline.com that Letterman met with Halderman several times as part of the police operation leading to the arrest.
Speaking on his show Thursday night, at one point, Letterman said: "This morning, I did something I've never done in my life. I had to go downtown and testify before a grand jury."
WNYW-TV in New York has obtained the search warrant in the extortion plot that led to a sting and two meetings between Halderman and investigators.
According to the warrant, Letterman was identified as "Client 1."
- In the package he received, Halderman allegedly includes treatment for a screen play with supporting materials.
- The supporting materials had copies of parts of a diary and personal correspondence belonging to Halderman's girlfriend, Stephanie Burkett, a former assistant to Letterman.
- A reference is made to "Client 1's great personal success and his beautiful and loving son."
- Halderman allegedly says he was publishing a book that had a lot more documents that would be incrementing including photos, letters and emails.
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Halderman has been suspended from CBS’ 48 Hours pending the investigation.
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Letterman admitted to sexual relationships with members of his staff. "My response to that is, yes I have," Letterman said, regarding his liaisons. "Would it be embarrassing if it were made public? Perhaps it would. I feel like I need to protect these people. I need to certainly protect my family."
Letterman is not taping a show Friday. Instead, he taped two shows Thursday, so he could take Friday off.
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Letterman married Regina Lasko in March of this year. The couple began dating in 1986 and have a son, Harry, born in November 2003.
Sources tell RadarOnline.com that Dave’s sexual relationships happened before the marriage, but during his relationship with Lasko. His relationship with the woman connected to the extortionist has apparently been over for a long time.
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Keep checking back with RadarOnline.com for more on this developing story….
