(2 of 2)
The Buy. Newsday put up $500 bail and got its reporter out of jail. Then Kellerman and Hathaway went to the police. At first, the police could hardly believe their story or that anyone could buy heroin in sleepy Riverhead. But the evidence convinced them. To catch the dope peddlers, Kellerman agreed to go back to jail as a prisoner. But when Kellerman finally managed to make his second "buy," the "junk" turned out to be nothing but aspirin, epsom salts and barbiturates.
When Newsday's expose appeared last week, Suffolk County's prison officials clammed up, had "no comment" on the series. But this week the county board of supervisors gave a push to Newsday's expose by appointing a bipartisan committee to investigate jail conditions. In all Newsday's jubilation over a slick journalistic trick well played, there was one small worry: Reporter Kellerman was still charged with burglary. Kellerman already had his defense figured out. He contended that before he can be convicted of burglary, the police must prove he had broken into the bar with "intent to commit a crime." Said he: "I had no such intent. My only intent was to get a good story." Nevertheless, at week's end Reporter Kellerman faced trial for third-degree burglary and a maximum term of ten years, if convicted.