We’re not sure how this eavesdropping was accomplished, whether through a bugging device or perhaps just through the phone. Phone call recording is often a built in feature for phone systems, but can also be performed through the use of external devices. Phone technicians could have access to the recordings. Even digital phones and VOIP phones can be recorded easily. It could be legal in many locations, if the person doing the recording is part of the conversation. What happens with the content of recordings, on the other hand, could be illegal and can often lead to detrimental results. Wayward employees or staff often think they acting righteously as whistle blowers when committing eavesdropping, but they could be breaking the law and end up in prison.
By Hailey Branson-Potts, LA Times;
A West Hollywood City Council aide has been suspended and is being investigated by sheriff’s detectives on charges of eavesdropping on another council deputy and then e-mailing portions of her private conversations to local bloggers and residents in the city.
Ian Owens, a deputy to Councilman John Duran, is accused of bugging the City Hall office of Fran Solomon, the deputy to Councilman John Heilman, said city officials who requested anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter.
Owens allegedly suspected that Solomon was soliciting campaign contributions for her boss, who is running for reelection, on city time.
The deputy is on paid administrative leave while the allegations are being investigated, said Lisa Belsanti, a city spokeswoman. Belsanti said she could not comment on the specific assertions because it’s a personnel matter.
Los Angeles Sheriff Lt. Martin Rodriguez said the department’s major crimes bureau is investigating to determine if any “inappropriate or criminal activity” occurred.
Call recording could be a feature of your phone system, or accomplished through external devices.
In January, a spreadsheet including quotes from Solomon’s office telephone conversations was sent to numerous e-mail accounts in the city, including the hyperlocal West Hollywood news website WEHOville, said its publisher, Henry Scott, who shared the document with The Times.
The Excel spreadsheet, which city officials said they believe was e-mailed by Owens, lists him as the creator of the document in its metadata and indicates it was made with city software. The document was sent in an e-mail that read, “Fran Solomon is illegally campaigning from Councilman Heilman’s office at City Hall…see attached.”
The document lists times, dates and details of Solomon’s phone calls, such as:
“Fran Solomon uses city phone from John Heilman’s council office to call someone for John Heilman’s council campaign photo shoot. Informs the call recipient that the shoot will take approx. 40 minutes and, ‘he would love to have you there, sweetie!’ ”
It also lists a call in which Solomon and Heilman “discuss two dogs named Pearl and Rocky” and lists times of the day when Solomon left and returned to her office.
Aanand Ghods-Mehtani, Owens’ attorney, said in an e-mail that Owens was a “victim in this situation.” Solomon, who has been Heilman’s deputy since 1993, also declined to comment.
City observers say the incident is just the latest flare-up with the full-time deputies who work for the city’s five part-time council members. The deputies often are the public face of the council members, meeting with constituents and providing legislative research and other support for the elected officials.