Pellicano pleads no contest to threatening former L.A. Times reporter

Hollywood private eye Anthony Pellicano and another man, accused of threatening reporter Anita Busch in 2002 to scare her off a story, pleaded no contest today to making a criminal threat.

Pellicano, 65, and Alexander Proctor, 66, were charged four years ago in the threat on Busch's life. Busch, who was then working for the Los Angeles Times, found a fish with a rose in its mouth on the broken windshield of her car along with a sign reading "Stop," court documents allege.

The windshield was punctured and made to appear like a bullet hole, prosecutors wrote in the complaint against the two men. 

In June, both men pleaded not guilty to the charges.

The case against Pellicano and Proctor was put on hold while the closely watched federal trial against Pellicano and his accomplices moved through the courts. At the conclusion of that trial in December, Pellicano was sentenced to 15 years in prison on a long list of federal wiretapping and racketeering charges. Pellicano and Proctor were transferred to state custody for their arraignment.

According the district attorney's office, they were sentenced to the maximum of three years in prison. "The state terms are to be served concurrently with their remaining federal prison sentences, prosecutors said.

--Shelby Grad and Victoria Kim

Photo: Anthony Pellicano. Los Angeles Times file.

Comments

[Ricky "the fish head"]

I could use an afternoon's worth of Pellicano's time. Too bad I gotta wait a few years.

[Belinda Gomez]

"I’m very relieved all the criminal trials are over. If this had gone forward, I would have had to testify in two more criminal trials. It was seven years since my life was threatened, computer hacked into and my phones illegally wiretapped. What they did to me was an act of domestic terrorism, and they are both in prison where they belong. Everything I said has now come to pass. I can hold my head high because I told the truth the entire time. What I learned through this experience was that most people are afraid of the truth … and that includes certain unethical idiots at the Los Angeles Times. Not only did they lie about my employment status, but also called Anthony Pellicano for help on my case and then hid that from their own staff, from me and from law enforcement."

Anita Bush to Patterico