LOS ANGELES - A man charged with threatening a Los Angeles Times reporter who was researching the relationship between actor Steven Seagal and an alleged Mafia associate told an informant for the FBI that Seagal was behind the threat, according to court documents.
Alexander Proctor, a 59-year-old ex-convict charged with threatening reporter Anita Busch, allegedly told the informant during secretly recorded conversations that he had been hired to carry out the threat by Anthony Pellicano, known as the private detective to the stars. According to the FBI, Proctor told the informant that Seagal had hired Pellicano to threaten the reporter.
"He wanted to make it look like the Italians were putting the hit on her so it wouldn't reflect on Seagal," Proctor told the informant, according to a search warrant affidavit filed by an FBI agent assigned to the case.
On Thursday, more than a dozen FBI agents searched Pellicano's West Hollywood office. An FBI spokesman, Matt McLaughlin, said Pellicano had been arrested in connection with what appeared to be explosive materials discovered in his office during the search. He was expected to appear before a federal magistrate yesterday, McLaughlin said.
One federal law enforcement source close to the case said that "at this time, other than Proctor's uncorroborated statements, there is no independent evidence that Seagal was involved in the threat made to the reporter."
The source said investigators were assessing Proctor's credibility and possible motives.
An attorney for Seagal said his client had no involvement in the June 20 threat against the reporter, who woke up that morning and found a dead fish, a rose and a note attached to her car windshield, which had been punctured. The note was a one-word message: "Stop."
"This uncorroborated allegation by someone arrested is pure fiction and is nothing more than a transparent attempt to divert attention from himself and the real perpetrators," said Attorney Martin R. Pollner, who represents Seagal. "This is part of an unrelenting campaign to disparage Mr. Seagal and reads like a bad screenplay."
Before he was handcuffed, Pellicano declined to comment. As a celebrity sleuth with a star-studded clientele, Pellicano has cultivated a tough-guy image: He hands out paperweights to reporters that read "Sometimes you just have to play hardball."
Matt Lait and Scott Glover are reporters for the Los Angeles Times, a Tribune Publishing newspaper.
