SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) — Two former private investigators charged with allegedly using false identities to access the phone records of Hewlett-Packard board members, employees and journalists are scheduled for sentencing.
Matthew DePante and his father, Joseph DePante, are due in U.S. District Court in San Jose on Thursday to accept a likely sentence of three years of probation and six months of electronic monitoring as part of a plea deal after pleading guilty to conspiracy to commit Social Security fraud in February.
Federal prosecutors said HP had hired the DePantes’ Florida-based firm to track down who was leaking boardroom information to journalists in 2005.
The men allegedly used the illegal practice of “pretexting” by directing other investigators posing as account holders or employees of phone companies to illegally obtain personal information including phone numbers, Social Security numbers, birthdates and call logs.
Source: AP