Next court appearance date set in eavesdropping case
Published 7/29/2011 in Local News
By The Telegram
Another case management court appearance has been set for a Garden City businessman and former vice president of the USD 457 Board of Education who is accused of using a concealed camcorder to eavesdrop in the women’s bathroom at his business.
John Scheopner, 56, is charged with four counts of use of a concealed camcorder to eavesdrop and two counts of intimidation of a witness. A case management hearing was held Thursday afternoon, and another is set for 1:30 p.m. Aug. 11 at the Law Enforcement Center.
Scheopner was arrested June 22 on allegations that on April 30 he used the camcorder to eavesdrop on a 53-year-old Garden City woman, a 28-year-old Lakin woman and a 32-year-old Garden City woman in the women’s bathroom at Scheopner’s Water Conditioning, 2203 East Fulton Plaza.
The two counts of intimidation of a witness or victim stem from Scheopner allegedly attempting to deter the 53-year-old woman and 28-year-old woman from testifying.
Scheopner’s resignation from the school board was accepted May 23 after 14 years on the board.
How serendipitous. Weeks after Microsoft bought Skype for $8.5 billion, Microsoft is seeking a patent for technology that lets it eavesdrop on VoIP calls.
Microsoft applied for the patent back in 2009, so it’s unlikely it was already preparing for a Skype acquisition two years later, but perhaps it had in mind similar voice messaging software such as Microsoft Voice and Unified Communications.
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SEOUL – Police said Friday they are currently investigating telephone calls made between a reporter and politician related to the alleged bugging of a Democratic Party meeting.
“We are currently looking into telephone calls made by the reporter, politician and his aides to verify whether they shared information over the alleged bugging,” an officer at the Yeongdeungpo Police Station in Seoul said Friday.
Police are also considering the option of banning the suspected reporter and politician from leaving the country should they make deliberate attempts to avoid the probe, the official said, asking not to be named as investigations continue.
The potentially-explosive scandal was disclosed to the public on June 26 when the main opposition Democratic Party filed a complaint with the police, claiming a KBS reporter had bugged a meeting held to discuss strategies over the state-run broadcaster’s controversial plan to raise TV subscription fees.
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London:Â Jude Law is suing The Sunover alleged interception of his voice mails for stories about his private life, dragging another tabloid of Rupert Murdoch’s shaking media empire into the phone hacking scandal that has rocked Britain.
Law’s action pertains to the time when Rebekah Brooks was the editor and is believed to be the first such legal action against Murdoch’s best-selling daily title.
The group’s largest selling tabloid News of the World was closed down last week after the scandal engulfed it amid revelations that the phone of murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler was hacked, among others.
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By Rose Panieri
rpanieri [at] stmedianetwork [dot] com
Updated: July 19, 2011 2:20AM
It appears that Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. — in its ongoing effort to mold a media monarchy — has resorted to dubious means of making headline news. Murdoch allegedly encouraged the hacking of phones and bribing of public officials to obtain the “raw meat” insatiable readers find so tasty.
Does it seem that journalism has morphed into a virtual “spy vs. spy” occupation, populated with reporters who majored in journalism and minored in espionage? How safe are you in discussing your gallstones with Aunt Henrietta?
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