Michael Reagan Admits Threatening Phone Call

Michael Reagan, the son of the former president and a San Diego radio talk show host, has admitted he left a profanity-laced, threatening message on the answering machine of a photographer suing him over the publication of two pictures.

Los Angeles photographer Roger Sandler filed a complaint with police against Reagan over the Jan. 15 phone call. Reagan may be charged with a misdemeanor, authorities said Wednesday.

Mike Shields, KSDO radio general manager, said news of the incident would have no effect on Reagan’s on-air job with the station. The 43-year-old adopted son of former President Ronald Reagan and his ex-wife, actress Jane Wyman, started work at KSDO-AM Jan. 16.

Reagan, who in the past was an occasional talk-show host for KABC-AM in Los Angeles, is now hosting the top-rated morning talk show in San Diego with co-anchor Jack Merker.

Shields, who said he learned of the allegations about the obscene phone call Wednesday afternoon, said Reagan’s two-year contract is not in danger. “It will have absolutely no repercussions,” Shields said. “I think it’s unfortunate, and I don’t know what else to say. I don’t see any reason why we should make a major deal about it.”

Reagan, a resident of Sherman Oaks, said in an interview this month that he intends to move to San Diego after his two daughters, ages 7 and 9, finish the school year.

Reagan is to appear as the speaker at a San Diego Press Club luncheon today at the Horton Grand Hotel. A Press Club spokeswoman said late Wednesday that Reagan had not canceled, and was still scheduled to appear. “He’d better not cancel . . . there will be more than 100 people there waiting to ask him questions,” said the spokeswoman, who declined to be named.

Reagan’s Los Angeles publicist, Dale Olson, said he was unaware of the speaking engagement and would have advised Reagan to cancel if he had known about it. Olson said he did not know Reagan’s whereabouts Wednesday, and had not talked to him since he released a terse statement in response to the allegations.

Los Angeles Police Lt. Mike Farrell, who spoke with Reagan on Tuesday, took the case to the prosecutor’s office there on Wednesday morning.

Threatened Harm

Mike Qualls, a spokesman for the Los Angeles city attorney’s office, said investigators will meet with Reagan Feb. 7 to determine if a criminal charge of placing an annoying and threatening phone call is warranted. The misdemeanor carries a maximum penalty of six months in jail and a $1,000 fine.

In his complaint, Sandler said a caller, identifying himself as Michael Reagan, said, “You can quote me,” then launched into a tirade that threatened physical harm against Sandler and ended with the words, “I hope your . . . family dies in a plane crash with you in it.”

The call was made after Reagan received a subpoena from Sandler for a small-claims action in which the photographer is seeking $1,500 for copyright infringement over the use of two pictures in Reagan’s 1988 book, “On the Outside Looking In.”

The book was a critical look at the Reagan family, which detailed Michael Reagan’s problems with his father and feelings of alienation while growing up in a series of boarding schools.

Sandler said the pictures were unauthorized and uncredited.

Reagan said in a statement Tuesday, “I regret that he was uncredited,” but contended that Sandler has been continually raising his prices for the photos.

“I lost my cool, which I should not have done, and I apologize for that,” Reagan said. “But I actually apologize more to my friends and my family for this kind of behavior, which is caused by the pressures placed on me because of my position.”

Sandler said the apology won’t make him drop the police complaint.

“He seems to act erratically, and it seems that he has a violent temper,” Sandler said. “I’m sorry he didn’t handle the publication of the pictures properly to begin with and didn’t deal with me honestly.”