Alec Baldwin and Kim Basinger, along with other parents who are embattled in bitter custody disputes, take note: Leave your children’s toys alone when looking to bury your spouse.
Take it from the Lewton’s of Omaha, Nebraska, using your kid’s beloved playthings to dig up dirt on your estranged spouse is not the way to go.
According to news reports, William Lewton is currently suing his ex-wife for allegedly planting a voice recorder inside the head of their daughter’s favorite teddy bear in order to document conversations that would prove him an unfit parent.
Not such a smooth move on William’s ex-wife’s part, according to a local judge, who recently threw out the recordings, citing Nebraska law which makes voice recordings illegal. Now, not only is Dianna Divingnzzo (formerly Lewton) being admonished for using unethical and immoral (not to mention illegal) tactics in her custody battle, she is also reportedly being charged with a felony for beheading her daughter’s stuffed toy and inserting an audio recorder. If she is found guilty of the crime Divingnzzo could face prison time and lose visitation time with her 5-year-old daughter.
According to court records, Divingnzzo’s demented effort to unearth secrets on her ex-husband backfired when the judge presiding over her child custody proceedings refused to hear the recordings, noting that under Nebraska law it’s illegal to record a conversation without a person’s consent.
Nebraska family court judges (along with court commissioners in other states) have another warning to embattled parents who are considering bugging their former partner’s home, wire tapping their phones or fitting their vehicles with GPS devices in the hopes of eventually securing additional visitation time–those tactics won’t work.
The illegal recordings in Lewton’s case were reportedly discovered by a therapist who was monitoring the child custody case. According to reports, Divingnzzo’s father transcribed hours of recordings – adding interpretation of various sounds.
In addition to being sued by her ex, Divingnzzo’s attorneys dropped her like a hot potato claiming that they never advised her to record her ex-husband. This occurred after the judge in the case noted that it is illegal for anyone to even review the results of an illegally obtained recording.
As for Lewton, he says these days he searches his daughter’s coats and puts all of her toys and teddy bears in the microwave for a few seconds to “zap” any recording device inside.
Food for thought for parents who think they are above the law… or are simply ignorant about it.
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