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CINCINNATI – Two Ohio police chiefs accused of snooping on the surrogate mother for actors Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick were charged with several felonies on Friday.
Special prosecutor T. Shawn Hervey said the men conspired to take items from the woman's eastern Ohio home to sell to celebrity photographers.
At an arraignment Friday, Martins Ferry Police Chief Barry Carpenter was charged with two counts of burglary, one count of receiving stolen property, one count of theft in office, one count of unauthorized use of property or services and one count of tampering with evidence.
Bridgeport Police Chief Chad Dojack, 30, was charged with two counts of complicity to burglary and one count of complicity to receiving stolen property.
Both men pleaded not guilty and are free on their own recognizance. Neither of the men could be reached for comment. There are no residential telephone listings for them.
Carpenter could face 21 1/2 years in prison if convicted on all charges, and Dojack could face up to 14 1/2 years if convicted on all charges against him.
Martins Ferry Mayor Phil Wallace said he gave Carpenter the day off on Friday and still considered him the working police chief. Wallace said he planned to meet with Carpenter Monday morning and would make a decision later next week on whether to suspend the chief.
The mayor declined to comment specifically on the allegations but indicated he was concerned about the scandal reflecting poorly on his community.
"I'm really disappointed that things have to happen like this in a small town. It's bad, and I wish it wouldn't have happened. But it did, so we've just got to put up with it," Wallace said.
Messages seeking comment from Bridgeport Mayor John Callarik were left at his office Friday. Bridgeport police wouldn't comment on whether Dojack is still on the job.
Hervey said that Carpenter is alleged to have entered the home of Michelle Ross and removed items from the home identifying Ross as the surrogate mother. Along with Dojack, Carpenter attempted to sell the items to photographers, Hervey said.
Carpenter, 32, also is accused of using his office to commit the crimes, destroying evidence and illegally using a law enforcement computer system, Hervey said.
"It is extremely troubling that the persons sworn to uphold the law and protect the public are now charged with violating those oaths," Hervey said.
He also said it was troubling that society "is so celebrity crazed that a market exists and tens of thousands of dollars are exchanged for pictures and stories of celebrity scandal."
"Unfortunately, the city and Belmont County are now living their own Hollywood soap opera," the prosecutor said.
The alleged burglary took place in mid-May in the eastern Ohio town of Martins Ferry, and the allegations against Carpenter and Dojack surfaced about a week later.
Ross is no longer believed to be staying in the Martins Ferry area, officials have said.
The surrogate mother, who gave birth to twins June 22 at an Ohio hospital, was not home at the time of the alleged burglary.

Publicist Simon Halls has said Parker and Broderick "have complete faith in the legal system."

A message was left for Halls at his office Friday.

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Associated Press writer Doug Whiteman in Columbus, Ohio, contributed to this report.

NEW YORK – The mid-movie dash to the restroom can turn us into calculating Hussein Bolt wannabes: Ah, this looks like a lull — time to dash.
When we return to our seats, we pray the answer to "What did I miss?" isn't "Darth Vader is really Luke's father" or "the girlfriend is a really guy."
The Web site RunPee.com can help with such anxious guess work.
The site provides recommended opportunities to race to the restroom. It tells you when the action or romance wanes, and gives you a cue ("Baby O.J. is taken from Bruno") for your exit.
The site tells you how long you've got and even summarizes what you missed. Since early July, RunPee.com is available as an iPhone app, too.
Launched last August, RunPee took off earlier this summer. It's been one of the season's runaway hits — a clever idea that has spawned a lot of word-of-mouth from moviegoers.
"Helping your bladder enjoy going to the movies as much as you do," the site boasts.
It was created by Dan Florio, a 42-year-old Flash developer who got the idea during the three-hour-plus "King Kong" remake in 2005.
Florio, who lives in Orlando, Fla., with his wife, does everything for the site, though he gets some help from his wife and his mother. He's become a regular opening day attendee of movies, busily taking notes in the back row.
On Friday, he's planning a double-feature of "Funny People" — which runs nearly 2 1/2 hours — and "Aliens in the Attic."
"I never intended to refocus my energies on this," says Florio. "And I never thought that I'd be seeing every single movie that comes out, either."
The site averages 3,000-6,000 visitors a day, Florio says. The iPhone app is available on iTunes for $1. It's not a huge moneymaker (Florio estimates he'll make $800 this month) but is providing him a little extra cash.
He believes that not only do moviegoers benefit from the service, but theater owners do, too.
"Lots and lots of people comment: `Ah! I can get that 64-ounce drink now!'" Florio says.
Florio designed the site to be wiki-based with break times submitted by users, but it's turned out that he's done most of the work. Finding the right moments and recording the correct time is more work than it might sound — most moviegoers leave their stopwatches at home.
"It's not fun," says Florio. "I would literally have to pay someone to do this."
Generally, the better the movie is, the harder it is to find a break. The 96-minute "Up," for example, is one film where no bathroom break is advisable. But there are suggested options — after all, movies that children flock to are the kind where bathroom breaks are often unavoidable.
There are, of course, limits to the usefulness of RunPee. But it's also found friends in cyberspace like WhereToWee.com, a site in the works that tells you where the nearest restroom is.

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On the Net:

http://runpee.com

BERLIN – A Hamburg court has ordered a German publisher to pay Sweden's Princess Madeleine euro400,000 ($560,000) in damages for fabricating stories about her, the parties involved said Friday.
Sonnenverlag GmbH & Co KG was ordered to pay the damages by the Hamburg state court, which was ruling on an appeal against a lower court's 2007 award of euro300,000 in damages against the publishing house.
The publisher's magazines carried false reports about the 27-year-old princess being engaged and pregnant, among other things, her attorney Matthias Prinz told The AP.
Madeleine has been dating boyfriend Jonas Bergstrom since 2002, but the couple is neither engaged nor married, nor do they have any children.
Sonnenverlag puts out a raft of magazines in Germany, and the reports were carried in two weekly women's publications, Frau mit Herz (Woman with Heart) and Welt der Frau, (Woman's World), Prinz said.
"There were scores of untruthful articles about my client in the publications," he said.
The Hamburg state court confirmed that the judgment had been made Thursday, but did not provide further details.
The Swedish Royal Court said in a statement that the court ruled the articles were "untrue and degrading."
"Princess Madeleine intends to donate the money she is finally awarded to charity," the statement said.
Sonnenverlag's parent company, Baden-Baden based KLAMBT media group, also confirmed the ruling in a short statement.
"The amount of the court-ordered damages and the related charges are in the range expected by the KLAMBT media group," the statement said. "Appropriate accounting provisions were already undertaken in 2004."
Company spokesman Jonas Schmieder said he could not provide more information beyond the release, and declined to say whether the company would attempt another appeal.
Madeleine Therese Amelie Josephine — the Princess of Sweden, Duchess of Halsingland and Gastrikland — is the youngest child of King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia.
She has two older siblings, Crown Princess Victoria and Prince Carl Philip.

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