Private Investigators

Anthony Pellicano, the high-profile private investigator whose clients included some of the biggest stars in Hollywood, was sentenced Friday to 30 months in federal prison for possessing two illegal hand grenades and a quantity of plastic explosives. Dressed in a drab green windbreaker and baggy gray prison trousers, and chained about the hands and ankles, Pellicano politely declined an invitation to address the court, an opportunity routinely accorded prisoners before sentencing.

A federal judge will decide Friday whether to honor celebrity private investigator Anthony Pellicano's request to withdraw his guilty plea to one of two illegal-weapons charges against him. Pellicano is set to appear in court that day for sentencing on the explosives charges. In October, Pellicano pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court to charges of illegally possessing plastic explosives and hand grenades.

The last time anyone saw Shinho Steve Seo, he was slipping beneath the ocean's surface at a remote place called Punta Prieta, about 700 miles south of the Mexican border in the Sea of Cortez. It was New Year's Day. Seo, an enthusiastic free-diver, snorkeler and spear fisherman who was out on the ocean with another diver and a dive operator, was going after prey about 60 feet down. As far as anyone knows, he never came back.

Private investigator Anthony Pellicano will surrender this morning at the Federal Detention Center in downtown Los Angeles to begin serving a 33-month prison sentence -- taking his secrets with him. Government officials accuse Pellicano of conducting illegal wiretaps, and suspect that some of the prominent lawyers and entertainment industry figures who hired him either authorized the surveillance or at least knew about it in advance.

Beleaguered private investigator Anthony Joseph Pellicano, who has worked for some of Hollywood's best-known stars, was married in a small chapel at the Bellagio Hotel on Saturday -- two days before he is due to start a federal prison sentence for possessing illegal explosives. Pellicano, 59, is at the center of an FBI investigation and federal grand jury inquiry into alleged illegal wiretapping, which has rattled some of Hollywood's legal elite.

What began with a crude attempt to intimidate a reporter has grown into a federal wiretapping investigation that has rattled Hollywood's legal elite. In recent months, a grand jury in Los Angeles has summoned witnesses whose conversations with at least one top entertainment lawyer were allegedly taped by famed private investigator Anthony Pellicano. Federal agents, meanwhile, have approached several actors and producers who had been engaged in litigation in which Pellicano was involved.

A Los Angeles police sergeant has been suspended for allegedly tapping into confidential police databases on behalf of Anthony Pellicano, a Hollywood private investigator who has worked for some of the biggest names in show business, law enforcement sources said. FBI agents and Los Angeles Police Department investigators who served search warrants on Pellicano obtained records that led to Sgt. Mark Arneson, a 29-year veteran of the force.

Hollywood private detective Anthony Pellicano, who has represented some of the biggest stars in show business, faces possible indictment on charges of widespread illegal wiretapping and witness intimidation, backed by threats and occasional violence, a federal prosecutor said in court Wednesday. What began as an investigation into a threat against a Los Angeles Times reporter has grown into a large-scale probe involving other potential victims, said Assistant U.S. Atty. Daniel Saunders.

Among those who seek the moniker "Hollywood detective," Anthony Pellicano, who was arrested last week, has set the standard for two decades -- even the rivals who portray him as a greedy, self-promoting bully concede that much.