AP source: Guilty plea expected in Letterman case

3/09/2010 11:24:01 AM

NEW YORK – A TV producer is expected to admit Tuesday to trying to shake down David Letterman in a case that bared the late-night icon's affairs with staffers, a person familiar with the case said.

Robert "Joe" Halderman was due to plead guilty to attempted grand larceny in exchange for a six-month jail term and 1,000 hours of community service, said the person, who spoke on condition of anonymity because Halderman's court appearance hadn't happened yet.

Halderman, 52, is accused of demanding $2 million to keep quiet about Letterman's workplace love life. Halderman had mined information from reading his then-girlfriend's diary entries about her relationship with Letterman, her boss, authorities said.

The Manhattan district attorney's office said the debt-strapped Halderman threatened to ruin Letterman's reputation, disguising his demands as a deal for a thinly veiled screenplay about the comedian.

Halderman had said in court filings that he simply offered Letterman a chance to buy the proposed screenplay and keep it private.

"For a price, I will sign a confidentiality agreement and I will not make this information public," Halderman told a Letterman attorney in a secretly taped conversation, according to prosecutors.

Letterman's lawyer eventually gave Halderman a phony $2 million check. The producer was arrested after depositing it.

Meanwhile, Letterman defused Halderman's potential bombshell himself. The day before prosecutors unveiled their case against Halderman, the comedian revealed on the air Oct. 1 that he had slept with women who worked for him.

Letterman married longtime girlfriend Regina Lasko last year. They began dating in 1986 and have a 6-year-old son.

Halderman, a producer for CBS' "48 Hours Mystery," would face up to 15 years in prison if convicted at a trial.