A quiet Chris Rock tells of Pellicano link

Looking like he was headed to the dentist’s office for a root canal, Chris Rock walked into a packed L.A. courtroom Friday in a dark suit and blue shirt to testify about his dealings with private detective Anthony Pellicano.

Uncharacteristically sober-faced and soft-spoken, one of the funniest men in Hollywood barely whispered his name into the microphone as he took the witness stand at the federal trial of Pellicano, who is charged with wiretapping and racketeering.

“Mr. Rock?” U.S. District Judge Dale S. Fischer said brightly. “Project.” She waved her arm out toward her courtroom.

He obliged -- but just barely -- as federal prosecutor Daniel Saunders took him through the basics of his story.

“In late 1998 did you meet a woman named Monika Zsibrita?”

“Yes,” Rock answered.

“And she is a model?”

“Yes,” Rock answered.

“In 1999, did she make a claim she was pregnant with your child?”

“Yes,” said Rock.

DNA tests later proved it wasn’t his child, he told the court. Rock had been separated from his wife when he had his encounter with Zsibrita.

Saunders asked Rock to name the private detective he had hired in 1999.

“Anthony Pellicano,” the comedian said, his voice tired, his face stony.

The government alleges that Pellicano obtained unauthorized DMV and police information on Zsibrita after she asked Rock for money.

Under cross-examination by defense attorney Chad Hummel, who represents former Los Angeles Police Sgt. Mark Arneson, one of Pellicano’s four co-defendants, Rock confirmed that he felt he was being shaken down by Zsibrita.

“Someone who was not pregnant with my child claimed to be pregnant with my child and requested large sums of money,” testified Rock.

Two years later Pellicano told Rock he had a police report of an assault claim that Zsibrita had filed against him. Pellicano read him parts of it over the phone.

Hummel asked Rock if he could describe what was in the police report. “Dude, I’m not a cop,” said Rock.

Rock was never arrested or charged in connection with Zsibrita’s allegations. “I didn’t do anything wrong,” said Rock.

The comedian spent less than 15 minutes on the stand, leaving plenty of time in the rest of the court day for more tawdry details of marriages and business relationships gone awry -- the fodder of a private investigator’s world.

Three days after his ex-wife testified that Pellicano had her followed and wiretapped, Alec Gores, a billionaire businessman (“I buy companies”), told the court he had paid the detective to investigate whether his wife was having an affair with his brother.

Initially, Gores said, attorney Patricia Glaser recommended Pellicano for some background checking he needed. But when Gores suspected his wife of cheating, Pellicano offered to take that on as well.

Pellicano got evidence, including alleged wiretaps, that confirmed the relationship. The government even produced a document of sorts that attorneys contend lists the numerous phone lines in the Gores’ lives and how much Pellicano would charge to tap each.

Gores paid the private eye a total of $280,000 and underwrote Pellicano’s family vacation in Hawaii.

“He was very good to me,” said Gores. “It was a tough period -- what I was going through. He had helped me out.”

Not everyone who testified Friday was wealthy. Pamela Miller was just the nanny for someone who was -- Taylor Thomson, a billionaire and daughter of a Canadian media mogul. Stationed at Thomson’s Malibu rental from September 2001 to April 2002, Miller became alarmed at the way Thomson was feeding and caring for her 18-month-old daughter, Madeleine.

“I was prohibited from giving her carbohydrates because her mother wanted her to be very thin,” said Miller, 46.

After Thomson in February 2002 told Miller to treat her daughter’s earache by pouring onions and olive oil in her ear, the nanny reported her worries to the child’s father, Michael Kolesa, who was embroiled in a bitter custody dispute with Thomson.

That put Miller in the middle of the battle. After being fired by Thomson, she said she and her parents and her brother were investigated, harassed with mysterious phone calls, and followed.

Prosecutors played a secretly recorded tape of Thomson talking to Pellicano (whose phone number, Miller testified, was on a “most called” list at Thomson’s home):

A voice identified as Thomson’s says to Pellicano: “I want you to do whatever you can to get information on Pamela. Just get it. I’m not going to ask questions.”

Outside the courtroom, Miller said later that she had been involved in various legal battles with Thomson that have drained her finances. She teared up when she talked about what her parents had been through.

“To this day, they still think someone is following them, someone is listening on the phone,” she said.

--

carla.hall@latimes.com