Anna Lee Halderman Strips On Public Beach In Front Of Kids During Argument With Woman
Brings a whole new meaning to "beach bum."
Westport Police Department They say that the apple doesn't fall far from the tree, and in a breaking news story about children, nudity and public beaches, that is certainly seeming to be more true than it is not. Who is Anna Lee Halderman? Anna is the daughter of former CBS producer Robert "Joe" Halderman, but her connection to the world of the rich and famous TV life isn't the reason why she's making headlines. Anna is in the papers because of a crime she committed this summer, and things aren't looking good for her.
1. Anna Lee Halderman
28-year-old Anna Lee Halderman is in hot water. Anna, who is the daughter of a rather infamous CBS producer (we'll get to him a little bit later), is facing charges she stripped down butt nekkid in the middle of a fight she got into when a confrontation on a beach in Connecticut really escalated. Now, Anna is looking down the barrel of some pretty serious charges including risk of injury to a minor and breach of peace. What did she do that caused all of this legal upheaval and these potentially traumatic memories for the minor in question? Anna straight up took off her bathing suit on the beach in full sight of those gathered.
2. The Police Statement
The Westport Police have issued a statement about the incident in question, and it's just as odd as it is darkly comic. On July 15th, according to the police records, at Compo Beach, a woman who was also enjoying the summer weather became distressed when she took notice of the fact that Anna had taken off the top of her bikini in order to get a more even tan. The woman in question didn't think that sort of thing was appropriate at this kind of beach and confronted Anna. As you can imagine, Anna didn't take kindly to this, began yelling, and eventually also took off her bikini bottom.
3. Why Did She Do It?
So what on Earth could have prompted this kind of reaction to a woman telling her to maybe put some clothes back on while in the presence of small children? According to the police report, booze seemed to play a pretty major role in the debacle. “The complainant reported that in addition to her inappropriate behavior this woman appeared to be under the influence of alcohol at the time of the interaction,” police said. It took the police a MONTH of investigating to locate Anna, and when they told her what happened on the beach she claimed to have no memory of it. Yikes.
4. Turning Herself Over
Thankfully, without the alleged alcohol in her system, sober Anna decided to do the right thing and quietly turned herself over to the police after a warrant was issued for her arrest on Saturday. Now here's where things get a little weird and lot interesting: Anna's dad is Robert "Joe" Halderman. You might not know his name, but you definitely know who he is. For years Halderman was a CBS News producer...but that's also not how you know him. It was only when Halderman made the odd choice to try and blackmail David Letterman that his name made the headlines.
5. Blackmailing David Letterman
Halderman's story about blackmailing Letterman is perhaps even odder than the story of his daughter getting drunk, angry and naked. In 2009, Halderman somehow learned about the fact that David Letterman was having an affair with Stephanie Birkitt, his personal assistant on the show. When Halderman got access to this information he decided that he should use it to his advantage, and that's what he did: or at least, that's what he tried to do. He threatened Letterman, telling him he would reveal his affair to the world unless the host paid him $2 million.
6. Letterman Strikes Back
What Halderman didn't anticipate when he made this move was that Letterman wouldn't bow and concede to Halderman's demands. Instead, Letterman went public with the news of his own affair AND of the fact that he was only sharing his personal information because he was being threatened with blackmail. His public confession made it possible to arrest Halderman who would later plead guilty to grand larceny in the second degree. He was sentenced to 1,000 hours of community service, six actual months of jail time, and more than five years of probation.
Rebecca Jane Stokes is a writer living in Brooklyn, New York with her cats, Batman and Margot. She's an experienced generalist with a passion for lifestyle, geek news, pop culture, and true crime.