Dunn and four others face felony charges

On Wednesday, California attorney general issued crime charges against Patricia Dunn, the former non-executive chairman of the board of Hewlett-Packard Company, a position she held between February 2005 and September 2006.

Along with Dunn, four others, including expelled HP chief ethics officer Kevin Hunsaker, private investigator Ronald DeLia, and outside investigators Joseph DePante and Bryan Wagner, faced similar charges in connection with the company's internal probe into boardroom leaks to the news media.

Attorney General Bill Lockyer filed felonious complaints in Santa Clara County Superior.

Lockyer said during an afternoon press conference in California: "One of our state's most venerable corporate institutions lost its way as its board sought to find out who leaked confidential company information to the press. In this misguided effort, people inside and outside HP violated privacy rights and broke state law."

All of them have been accused with four felony charges- Conspiracy to commit crime, fraudulent use of wire, radio, or television transmissions, taking, copying, and using computer data unauthorized for access and using personal identifying information without authorization.

Even though the inquiry is still in progress, HP CEO Mark Hurd, former HP employees Ann Baskins and Anthony Gentilucci, and the company itself were not charged.

The United States House Committee on Energy and Commerce had written a five page letter to Patricia Dunn, which was publicly released on a website on September 11, 2006.

The letter addressed to Dunn stated that they have, for the past seven months, been conducting an investigation on Internet-based data brokers who allegedly use "lies, fraud and deception" to get hands on personal information, and allow anyone who pay a "modest fee" to obtain "itemized incoming and outgoing call logs", not only for cell phone numbers but also for VIP numbers, landline numbers, and unpublished phone numbers.

Additional data that could be given include addresses and other personal data, obtained without the consent or prior notice to the owner of the number.

Dunn is at the center of a controversy regarding her effort to dig out board-level leaks to reporters in 2005-2006. HP hired companies that in the process of investigating the leaks, obtained the personal telephone records of HP board members and reporters who covered HP through a practice called pretexting.

Dunn, who fueled up the investigation, said that she had no clue about what was happening until detectives went to such extremes to bring to light clues about the leaker's identity.

During the press conference, Lockyer said that Dunn initiated HP’S leak probe, and it is expected that she and Hunsaker will surrender themselves by Wednesday.

Anderson, chief deputy attorney for legal affairs said, "Patricia Dunn in our view was the catalyst for the [HP] investigation."

Dunn’s attorney Brosnahan said, "These charges are being brought against the wrong person at the wrong time and for the wrong reasons. They are the culmination of a well-financed and highly orchestrated disinformation campaign."

It was announced on September 12, 2006 that the current CEO Mark Hurd would replace Dunn as Chairman after the HP board meeting on January 18, 2007, but that Dunn would continue as a HP board member, a position she has held since 1998.

However, On September 22, 2006, in a press conference, Dunn resigned from both her position as chairman and from the board of directors.

Anderson said that the charges may land the accused in jail for almost three years. Some legal experts however say that there is no defined law for pretexting, but Andersaon said, "I don't believe there is any ambiguity whatsoever."

Hunsaker, who directed the investigation, left the company September 26, 2006.