Sentencing today for HP contractors who obtained reporters' phone records

Joseph DePante, left,
and son Matthew

A federal judge in San Jose is scheduled today to sentence the father-son private detective team who, as contractors for Hewlett-Packard, assumed false identities to get the phone records of journalists covering the company,  the AP reports. Matthew DePante and his father, Joseph DePante, are expected to be sentenced to three years of probation and six months of electronic monitoring as part of a deal with prosecutors. AP reported:

The DePantes' allegedly used the illegal practice of "pretexting" or pretending to be someone else to secretly secure copies of private telephone logs. The firm directed other investigators posing as account holders or phone company employees to illegally obtain personal information including phone numbers, Social Security numbers, birth dates and call logs, authorities said.