Cruise/Kidman Bug Eradicated

Photographer "sorry" for illegal intrusion...


by empire |
Published on

Eric Ford, a 27-year-old Southern California photographer charged with intercepting, recording and later selling to a tabloid a mobile phone conversation between Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman, has pleaded guilty to a federal wiretapping charge. For his trouble, the snapper could receive between six months and a year in the slammer when he's sentenced on May 17 at the U.S. District Court in Los Angeles. Unfortunately for Ford and his recently acquired fortune from selling the conversation, he's also facing up to $20,000 in fines. Ford, who successfully waged a plea arrangement deal for reduced jail time said to reporters outside the courtroom, "I'd like to apologise to Tom and Nicole. I'm sorry" Ford allegedly used a modified radio frequency scanner to intercept calls made between the couple while Kidman was on-set filming Practical Magic. He then shopped around a number of tabloid TV shows and print publications, before landing a deal with London's Globe in June 1998. Seemingly dogged by questionable stories, in October the Cruises collected substantial libel damages and attorney's fees from the Express on Sunday, which chose to tread the verge of Jordan when it ran a story asserting that Cruise was gay. Cruise also filed suit against a German tabloid in 1996 for calling him sterile. Also in October, California enacted strict new laws which among other restrictions, prevents tabloid press members from using technological equipment to invade the privacy of their subjects. In Los Angeles, Ford's case is believed to be the first of its kind.

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