From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Joe Halderman
Joe Halderman
Robert Joel "Joe" Halderman is an American television
news writer, director, producer, and convicted felon.[1]
Personal life
Halderman married Patty Montet in 1990 and the couple
had two children. They divorced in 2004. In 2007, Hal-
Career derman was ordered to pay Montet $6,800 per month in
Halderman’s journalistic career began in the early 1980s, child and spousal support until May 2011, when the pay-
when he was a producer on the CBS Morning Show with ments will be reduced to $5,966 until May 2014, according
Diane Sawyer and Bill Kurtis. In 1986 he produced the to papers filed in Stamford Superior Court in Connecti-
CBS specials AIDS Hits Home and 48 Hours on Crack Street.[2] cut. In May, 2009, Montet bought a house in Fort Collins,
He became a foreign reporter who travelled to more than Colorado and moved there with her sons.[6]
70 countries, and was responsible for war reportage from According to CBS News, Halderman and Stephanie
nations such as Iraq, Afghanistan, Lebanon, and Bosnia. Birkitt lived together in Halderman’s Norwalk, Connecti-
He was stationed in London for 12 years, throughout cut home until August 2009, when she reportedly moved
most of the 1990s, from where he reported on events in out. She was also romantically linked to David Letterman
the Soviet Union and later Russia.In 1992 he wrote and during the same time.[7]
produced the CBS special Somalia: A Country Is Dying. In Fe-
bruary 1998 he worked on CBS coverage of the Olympic
Winter Games XVIII.[2]
Blackmail attempt
During the 2000s, Halderman worked on domestic In October, 2009, Halderman was accused of attempting
shows for CBS, He produced the show Flashpoint in 2007, to blackmail David Letterman for $2 million. According
and from 2005–2009, he was also a producer of the CBS to Letterman, who described the incident on his televi-
true crime journalism series 48 Hours, including episodes sion show on October 1, 2009, someone had threatened to
such as Out of the Shadows (2005), about a man who for expose Letterman’s sexual affairs with female staff em-
18 years was wrongly suspected of being the serial killer ployees in the form of a screenplay and a book if he was
Dennis Rader, also known as the BTK Killer; and Virginia not paid off. Halderman was arrested when he attempted
Tech: Anatomy of a Rampage (2007), about the school shoot- to cash a phony $2 million check given to him by Letter-
ing and mass murder known as the Virginia Tech mas- man’s lawyer.
sacre which took place at Virginia Polytechnic Institute At the time of his arrest, Halderman was a producer
and State University.[2] In September 2006 he produced of the CBS true crime journalism series 48 Hours. Halder-
Five Years Later: How Safe Are We?, a look at US security man was indicted by a Manhattan grand jury[8] and he
since the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Cen- pleaded not guilty to a charge of attempted grand larce-
ter and The Pentagon.[2] ny in criminal court on October 2, 2009.[9][10] If convict-
Halderman’s work at CBS News won an Alfred I. ed, Halderman faced punishment of five to 15 years. Bail
duPont-Columbia University Award for broadcast jour- was set at $200,000, which Halderman posted.[6]
nalism and seven Emmy Awards. He also received an Em- Halderman had at one time lived with one of Letter-
my Award nomination for the 2006 film Beslan: Three Days man’s assistants, Stephanie Birkitt.[11][12][13] As a mem-
in September which was narrated by Julia Roberts and ber of the CBS page program, Birkitt worked for both Let-
aired on Showtime. The film, which Halderman wrote, di- terman’s show and for 48 Hours before becoming a staff
rected and produced, combined guerilla footage and in- employee for Letterman.[14]
terviews with family members, soldiers, local politicians, On October 15, CBS News made the unusual an-
school officials, and survivors to describe the hostage- nouncement that the company’s Chief Investigative Cor-
taking and massacre of hundreds of people at a children’s respondent, Armen Keteyian, had been assigned to con-
school by Chechen rebels in North Ossetia, Russia.[1][2] duct an "in-depth investigation" into the blackmail of
In July 2010, after his conviction and incarceration, Letterman by Halderman, a CBS News producer.[15] On
Halderman was nominated for an Emmy as a producer of March 9, 2010, Halderman pleaded guilty to attempted
a 48 Hours Mystery segment regarding Amanda Knox.[3][4] grand larceny in the second degree and received a
The Emmy was won instead by a 60 Minutes segment on 6-month jail sentence, to be followed by five years proba-
the War in Pakistan.[5] tion and 1,000 hours of community service.[16]
Halderman was released from Rikers Island on
September 2, 2010, after serving four months of his
1
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Joe Halderman
6-month sentence.[17] He still has to complete 1,000 entertainmentNews/idUSTRE5910GR20091002.
hours of community service and will most likely be work- Retrieved 2009-10-02.
ing with the homeless and recently released prison- [11] cbsnews.com
ers.[18] [12] "CBS worker arrested for extortion". Associated
Press. 2009-10-02. http://www.freep.com/article/
References 20091002/ENT03/91002003/1318/CBS-worker-
arrested-for-extortion.
[1] ^ Joe Halderman at the Internet Movie Database [13] Shea, Danny (2009-10-02). "Stephanie Birkitt". The
[2] ^ "Joe Halderman". hollywood.com. Huffington Post. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/
http://www.hollywood.com/celebrity/3950494/ 2009/10/02/stephanie-birkitt-
Joe_Halderman_Credits. Retrieved 2009-10-15. letterm_n_307558.html. Retrieved 2009-10-02.
[3] Mirkinson, Jack (2010-07-15). "Joe Halderman, [14] The Woman at the Center of the Letterman Scandal
Letterman Extortionist, Nominated For An Emmy". [15] "Report: CBS News Investigating Former Producer
Huffington Post. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ in Letterman Extortion Case". Fox News and
2010/07/15/joe-halderman-letterman- Associated Press. 2009-10-15.
e_n_647690.html. http://www.foxnews.com/story/
[4] Weisman, Jon (2010-07-15). "Letterman larcenist 0,2933,566980,00.html. Retrieved 2009-10-15.
gets Emmy nom". Variety. CBS Broadcasting, Inc. and Associated Press.
http://www.variety.com/ 2010-03-09. http://wcbstv.com/
index.asp?layout=Emmy&articleid=VR1118021805&categoryid=2161&cs=1&cs=1.
breakingnewsalerts/
[5] http://www.emmyonline.org/mediacenter/ letterman.extortion.case.2.1547848.html. Retrieved
news_31st_winners.html 2010-03-10.
[6] ^ "Ex-wife of Letterman blackmail suspect talks [17] Siemaszko, Corky (2010-09-02). "Robert Halderman,
about husband from Fort Collins" ex-producer in David Letterman blackmail plot,
[7] "Report: Stephanie Birkitt (Pictures) Involved With gets early release from NY jail".
Letterman and Alleged Extortionist at Same Time". http://www.nydailynews.com/gossip/2010/09/02/
CBS. 2009-10-06. http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/ 2010-09-02_robert_halderman_exproducer_in_david_letterman_b
2009/10/06/crimesider/entry5366663.shtml. [18] Id.
Retrieved 2009-10-06. Persondata
[8] Zand, Joel (2009-10-02). "Halderman Indictment:
Name Halderman, Joe
Letterman Extortion Suspect’s Charges". FindLaw.
http://blogs.findlaw.com/courtside/2009/10/ Alternative names
halderman-indictment-letterman-extortion- Short description
suspects-charges.html. Retrieved 2009-10-02. Date of birth
[9] Robert Joe Halderman, 48 Hours Producer, Named
in David Letterman Sex Extortion Plot Place of birth
[10] Honan, Edith (2009-10-02). "Suspect in Letterman Date of death
extortion pleads not guilty". Reuters. Place of death
http://www.reuters.com/article/
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Joe_Halderman&oldid=472522815"
Categories:
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• David Letterman
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