Spanish-Language Newspaper Fires Reporter Over False Story

Posted Friday, August 18, 2006 12:00 am

By: An El Paso, Texas, Spanish-language newspaper has retracted a front-page story that proved false and fired the reporter who wrote the piece, according to a front-page correction published today.

El Diario de El Paso Editor Gerardo Rodriguez said reporter Alberto Ponce de Leon was fired after an internal investigation into a story published Wednesday that reported a verdict in the federal trial of the former head of the FBI in El Paso.

Ponce de Leon's story said Crawford Hardrick Jr. had been found not guilty Tuesday night; in fact, a jury convicted Crawford on two counts of lying to federal investigators Wednesday afternoon.

Reached by telephone today, Ponce de Leon told the Associated Press he made a mistake and misunderstood a conversation with a defense lawyer in the case. He said the error was not intentional.

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Spanish-Language Newspaper Fires Reporter Over False Story

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