First Guilty Plea Entered In HP Pretexting CaseFirst Guilty Plea Entered In HP Pretexting Case

An investigator has pleaded guilty to federal charges relating to his work for Hewlett-Packard and is cooperating with an ongoing investigation.

Bryan Wagner, a 29-year-old Littleton, Colo., investigator who worked for HP as the company tried to root out the source of leaks from its board to the media, is scheduled for sentencing June 20. His lawyer requested that his plea agreement be sealed and U.S. District Court Judge Jeremy Fogel scheduled a hearing Tuesday to address the matter.

The U.S. Attorney's Office charged Wagner with one felony count each of aggravated identity theft, and one count of conspiracy, both felonies carrying fines of up to $250,000 or the twice the value of the property involved. Court documents said that Wagner conspired to commit aggravated identity theft and wire fraud, gain unauthorized computer access to information, falsely represent an assigned Social Security number, and disclose and use a Social Security number. The conspiracy charge carries a maximum penalty of five years imprisonment, while the identity theft charge carries a mandatory minimum of two years imprisonment.

"In pleading guilty to two felony counts, Wagner admitted today that he was paid as part of a conspiracy that made fraudulent use of Social Security numbers and other confidential information to obtain the personal phone records of reporters and HP officials, as well as the personal records of these individuals' family members," the U.S. Attorney's Office said in a statement. "Specifically, Wagner admitted that on March 8, 2006, he established an online telephone service account in the name of a Wall Street Journal reporter and fraudulently used the reporter's Social Security number to access the reporter's personal telephone records."

The charges state that Wagner and known and unknown co-conspirators obtained and exchanged personal information, including Social Security numbers, dates of birth, addresses and other information to get personal phone records for people targeted in HP's probe. Federal prosecutors and the FBI are continuing to investigate the alleged conspiracy.

"Co-conspirators pursued a number of avenues during the investigations, including requesting and obtaining confidential personal information of subjects they targeted, including the board members and journalists," the U.S. Attorney's office wrote in statement released Friday. "Wagner was charged with being a member of a conspiracy which gathered the personal and confidential information of HP board members; news reporters at CNET, the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, and BusinessWeek, and the family members of these board members and reporters."

Criminal Division Chief Mark Krotoski, who lead the prosecution, didn't immediately respond to the request that the plea agreement be sealed. The agreement wasn't released to the public before Wagner's attorney requested that it be held under seal. Wagner is not in custody. His lawyers have not responded to calls for comment.

Hewlett-Packard representatives have declined to comment on the charges. The company has said that it is fully cooperating with investigations regarding its pretexting scandal.

California Attorney General Bill Lockyer also brought a case against Wagner, investigators Ronald DeLia, Matthew DePante, former HP counsel Kevin Hunsaker, and former board chairperson Patricia Dunn in a state case. Lockyer said the group conspired to use fraud or deception and unauthorized computer access to gain private records during the investigation. The defendants in that case have pleaded not guilty.