LOS ANGELES : Couple Plead Guilty to News Tabloid Fraud
An ex-Globe reporter and his wife who were the secret “sources” for celebrity stories they sold to tabloid newspapers pleaded guilty Monday to mail fraud and tax violations.
Tony and Renee Castro, who made more than $210,000 that way, pleaded guilty to the counts contained in an Oct. 6 indictment. At Monday’s hearing before U.S. District Judge James M. Ideman, Tony Castro pleaded guilty to eight counts of mail fraud and one count of tax evasion. Renee Castro pleaded guilty to two counts of mail fraud and one count of tax evasion.
Tony Castro faces up to 43 years in prison, and his wife could be sentenced to 13 years when they come before Ideman on Jan. 25. According to the indictment, the Castros defrauded the Globe, National Enquirer and Star newspapers by submitting stories for publication allegedly based on information from reliable sources. Those sources never existed, the indictment said. The Castros also posed as sources, using bogus identities to sell information, according to the indictment.
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