Bryan Wagner ’s agreement Friday to plead guilty to federal charges in the Hewlett - Packard spying case gives prosecutors added leverage to file others in the showcase , a legal expert said .
Wagner , a 29 - twelvemonth - old secret investigator from Littleton , Colo. , pleaded guilty to confederacy and exacerbate personal identity theft charges in a federal courtroom in San Jose , Calif. He has agreed to cooperate with prosecutor investigating possible co - conspirators in exchange for possible leniency at sentencing .
“ The first thing that a prosecuting attorney involve in a display case like this is an privileged witness , ” said Franklin Zimring , a vicious DoJ law prof in the Earl Warren Legal Institute at the University of California at Berkeley . “ Without that , it ’s a question of illation from circumstantial evidence , and no fun at all for the prosecuting officer . ”
The armorial bearing stem from an investigation HP conducted in 2005 and 2006 to identify who on the HP board was leaking news of board deliberations to the media .
According to selective information presented in court of law Friday by Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark Krotoski , HP hired a Boston private investigative firm , Security Outsourcing Solutions , which in turn hired Action Research Group , of Melbourne , Fla. Action Research , in turn , hired Wagner , an independent contractor .
The targets of the investigating let in newsman who cover HP , caller director , and some family members of both .
Wagner was sacrifice Social Security Book of Numbers and other personal information about the prey and used it to pose as those masses to get calling records from phone companies , a recitation called “ pretexting , ” Krotoski say .
Wagner still front DoS felony charges in California along with former HP board chairman Patricia Dunn , former HP effectual direction Kevin Hunsaker , Ronald R. DeLia , of Security Outsourcing Solutions and Matthew DePante , manager of Action Research Group . Wagner is the only person prosecuted in Union homage in connection with the case and the first to be convict .
Attorneys for Dunn and Hunsaker , who were force out of their HP posts because of the scandal , could not be reached for gossip on Wagner ’s supplication .
Wagner only had direct inter-group communication with DePante but was assured that lawyers had reviewed the practice of pretexting and said it was legal , said Wagner ’s attorney , Stephen Nataril . He tell reporters after the hearing that his client was “ the Greco-Roman dupe . ”
He also said that secret investigators like those at Action Research Group on a regular basis engage in suspect practices to get information .
The case ultimately may come down to which investigative drill are criminal and which are merely legal “ artifice , ” Zimring said .
“ The inquiry of the line between misrepresentation , which are tolerated , and prosecutable fraud is a very unmanageable molding to patrol , ” Zimring said . “ What ’s the difference between fraud and sell used cable car is a philosophical question . ”
