Texas reporter apologizes for maternity ward probe
Betsy BlaneyNo charges will be pursued in the case of a Lubbock television station reporter arrested last year after trying to gauge security at two Amarillo hospitals, according to an agreement announced Saturday.
Cecelia Lynn Coy-Jones, 33, a reporter for NBC affiliate KCBD-TV, was arrested on charges of attempted aggravated kidnapping in March 2007 after walking into a nursery with a large bag and asking questions about child abduction security.
Coy-Jones said she was doing an undercover investigation into security at hospital maternity wards a few weeks after a baby was snatched from a Lubbock hospital by a woman in scrubs who allegedly hid the newborn in her purse.
The agreement between between Panhandle authorities and the reporter's employer called for Coy-Jones and KCBD to publish a letter of apology in the Amarillo Globe-News and pay $600 to cover costs police incurred responding to the incident, according to an e-mail from Randall Sims, the district attorney for Potter County. The station and Coy-Jones also agreed to not pursue civil claims as a result of the reporter's arrest.
The apology was published Saturday as a 2-inch-by-5-inch advertisement, without a heading or signatures. It stated, in part: "Any alleged violation of Texas law, should such have occurred, was an unintended consequence of what we believed to be a beneficial test of security."
A news release issued by the station Friday night said, in part: "...these types of investigations are the obligation of a news leader like KCBD. NewsChannel 11 will continue to do groundbreaking investigations that push the envelope and test the system. We are proud of Cecelia and all of her work in that area."
Sims said the letter of apology that appeared in the newspaper lacked "sincerity."
"It also reflects an attitude of, 'I am smarter than you are,' and in this case, of being above the law," his e-mail stated. "Even as long as I have been a prosecutor, it is still disappointing when you give people the opportunity to seize the moment and they do not."
Dan Jackson, KCBD general manager, declined to comment on Sims' assertions.