A former Fox News employee who leaked confidential information about the network to the gossip website Gawker has had his home searched and computer seized.
The "Fox News mole", aka Joe Muto, tweeted that officials from the New York district attorney's office turned up at his home with a warrant at 6.30am on Wednesday and that his iPhone and laptop were seized.
Muto's spell as Gawker's Fox News insider lasted some 36 hours before he was fired.
I just got search warranted at 6:30am by a very polite crew from the DA's office. Took my iPhone, laptop, some old notebooks.
— Joe Muto (@JoeMuto) April 25, 2012
"According to the warrant, Fox News is apparently accusing me of grand larceny, amongst other things," he added.
Gawker reportedly paid Muto $5,000 for two articles he wrote, which detailed the condition of the restrooms at Fox News and included previously unseen footage of Mitt Romney discussing horses with Sean Hannity.
"They're pretty worked up over a clip of Romney talking about his horses," Muto mused on Wednesday morning, adding:
I should have done something more innocuous, like hacked a dead girl's phone and interfered with a police investigation.
— Joe Muto (@JoeMuto) April 25, 2012
The New York district attorney's office declined to comment when the Guardian requested confirmation of the search. Muto did not immediately respond to tweets.
