Entertainment> Celebrities

NY paparazzo testifies in Parker-Broderick case

(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-11-18 07:26

FILE - In this Sept. 1, 2009 file photo actress Sarah Jessica Parker films a scene on location for 'Sex and the City 2' in New York. [Agencies]

ST. CLAIRSVILLE, Ohio – A paparazzo testified Tuesday that an Ohio police chief told him he had access to ultrasound photographs belonging to the woman who carried twins for Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick.

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Justin Steffman of New York testified that suspended Martins Ferry Chief Barry Carpenter also said that he had access to a plaster cast of surrogate Michelle Ross' stomach, a contract between the woman and Parker and several documents.

A special prosecutor has said Carpenter entered Ross' home in Martins Ferry in May and removed items that identified her as the surrogate. He and Police Chief Chad Dojack from nearby Bridgeport are accused of scheming to sell the items.

Steffman said Dojack offered to sell him the surrogate's address and contact information for $1,000. He said he met Carpenter in a post office parking lot, when the chief showed him a cell-phone photo of the cast.

During cross-examination, Steffman said he did not see the items the chief claimed to have.

Carpenter's attorney, Dennis McNamara, has said that the chief entered Ross' house but did not take anything and that he joked with photographers about having access to the home.

Steffman said he never thought Carpenter was joking and that he acted arrogant, aggressive and "like a bully."

Steffman also said he tracked down Ross through her MySpace page and let her know about the conversations he'd had with both chiefs.

Carpenter accessed a law enforcement database from his home to obtain Ross' personal information, including her driver license information, Social Security number, address and driving record, according to testimony from Lisa Sprague of the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation.

A sheriff's deputy testified that signs of a break-in at Ross' home included missing personal files, disheveled boxes of photographs, an open bathroom cabinet and the belly cast at the bottom of the stairs instead of where it had been left in a bedroom.

Carpenter faces several felony charges, including burglary, receiving stolen property and theft in office. He could face 21 1/2 years in prison if convicted on all counts.

Dojack faces counts of complicity to burglary and complicity to receiving stolen property. His trial is set for January.