CNN's Wolf Blitzer got crank-called live on the air in "The Situation Room" yesterday, and after reading Lloyd Grove's report on the incident I feel safe in saying that my dog would have done a better job of screening out infamous jokester Thomas Cipriano:
...Cipriano impersonated Wendy Hutchens, a California woman who claims that five years ago she had detailed chats about the death of JonBenet Ramsey with creepy murder suspect John Mark Karr.
"Wendy Hutchens is joining us on the phone right now," Blitzer told viewers. "Wendy, thanks very much for doing this. Tell our viewers how you got involved with John Mark Karr." In a husky voice that kept changing register, the fake Wendy explained that she met Karr through a relative...
... CNN spokeswoman told me sheepishly: "We make every effort to screen all of our guests, and we're looking into this incident."
Cipriano, meanwhile, told me he hatched the scheme early yesterday afternoon and was surprised at how easily he succeeded - first impersonating Hutchens' alleged publicist, "Bob Fortello," and then arranging for "Hutchens" to phone the control room directly and give the password "blue."
"I've been doing this for 20 years!" Cipriano marveled. "You'd think they'd be on to me by now."
