N.Y. Times reporter barred from Pellicano

LOS ANGELES, July 7 (UPI) -- A Los Angeles detention center has barred a New York Times reporter for allegedly saying she was a lawyer to interview jailed detective Anthony Pellicano.

The Times denied she claimed to be Pellicano's lawyer.

Allison Hope Weiner tried to gain entry to the jail June 14 to interview the private celebrity detective who is at the center of a Hollywood wiretapping scandal and awaiting trial, the Los Angeles Times reported. She has written about Pellicano before and is an attorney registered with the California bar, although she does not represent him.

The Los Angeles Times said she has never worked as a lawyer for The New York Times.

Pellicano, 62, has pleaded not guilty to charges of wiretapping stars and bribing two police officers to run names through a government database.

Warden Michael Benov issued an order in February, saying no one but Pellicano's lawyer and family would be admitted to see him.

New York Times spokeswoman Diane McNulty said when Weiner went to the detention center, she identified herself to a guard as a journalist and a lawyer, "but not Pellicano's lawyer."

Pellicano refused to talk to Weiner once he found out she was a journalist, and the warden barred her permanently from the facility.