American Idol winner and Livingston Parish native Laine Hardy arrested
BATON ROUGE, La. (BRPROUD) - LSU confirms that American Idol star Laine Hardy was arrested on Friday, April 29. American Idol Winner and Louisiana native Laine Hardy was arrested by LSU Police today and booked into East Baton Rouge Parish Prison for allegedly bugging his former girlfriend's dorm room. Hardy is charged with Interception and [...]
BATON ROUGE, La. (BRPROUD) - LSU confirms that American Idol star Laine Hardy was arrested on Friday, April 29.
American Idol Winner and Louisiana native Laine Hardy was arrested by LSU Police today and booked into East Baton Rouge Parish Prison for allegedly bugging his former girlfriend's dorm room.
Hardy is charged with Interception and Disclosure of Wire, Electronic, or Oral Communication.
On April 7, the alleged victim and her roommate were watching a movie in their dorm room.
The duo found "a device appearing to be a phone charger," according to the affidavit.
The device turned out to be a recorder and it was found under the alleged victim's bed.
The affidavit states that the alleged victim and Laine Hardy started dating in November of last year.
The alleged victim learned about the crime in February and during that month "found a fake Instagram account on the Defendant's phone that he used to cover up that he was illegally recording her when he was not around," according to the affidavit.
Hardy allegedly knew about stuff that the alleged victim did during Christmas break which the victim had not disclosed to the American Idol winner.
The affidavit states that the Livingston Parish native confessed to the alleged victim that a "bug" was left in her room.
Hardy claims to have taken the "bug" out of the room. The alleged victim provided a screenshot of a Snapchat message where Hardy again confessed to leaving the "bug" in her room.
An investigator with the LSU Police Department proceeded to listen to the recorder and gather evidence.
Some of that evidence includes recordings that seem to show the device being taken into the dorm.
Hardy eventually left the dorm and conversations between the alleged victim and her roommates were located on the recorder.
On one of the final recordings, the investigator heard the victim "telling someone about how she figured out the Defendant was recording her and that she doesn't know if the 'bug is still in her room.'"
If convicted of Interception and disclosure of wire, electronic, or oral communications, Hardy could face anywhere from two to ten years behind bars and a fine of up to $10,000.
This comes after reports of an arrest warrant being issued for Hardy by LSU Police.
Laine Hardy's attorney, C Frank Holthaus is responding with this statement below:
I can confirm that Mr. Hardy did receive a warrant for his arrest earlier today and has been and will continue to be completely cooperative with the Baton Rouge Police Department on this matter. Due to the public nature of Mr. Hardy’s profession, we ask for privacy at this time.