‘Not guilty’ plea in plot to take Letterman’s son

CHOTEAU, Mont. – A man accused of plotting to kidnap David Letterman’s 16-month-old son and his nanny and hold them for a $5 million ransom pleaded not guilty here on Tuesday.

Kelly A. Frank, 43, appeared briefly in District Court in this small north-central Montana town on felony charges of solicitation and theft and a misdemeanor charge of obstruction.

Frank, wearing striped jail overalls, spoke only to enter his pleas and to tell Judge Marc Buyske that he was not suffering any medical or psychological conditions. Buyske ordered Frank to remain jailed pending his next court appearance on April 5.

Frank’s attorney, Jim Hunt of Helena, declined to discuss the charges against Frank in detail following Tuesday’s hearing, but said Frank was “pretty stressed, understandably.” He said he intended to ask that Frank’s bail, currently set at $650,000, be reduced.

Frank, a self-employed painter, had been hired do to painting work at Letterman’s sprawling, 2,700-acre ranch in north-central Montana. Authorities arrested him last week after an acquaintance told investigators Frank had confided his plot to kidnap Letterman’s son, Harry Joseph, and the child’s nanny. The acquaintance said Frank talked about holding the two for 48 hours in the belief that he could extort $5 million from Letterman.

The baby was born to Regina Lasko, Letterman’s girlfriend, in November 2003.

According to court records, Frank told the acquaintance he had a key to Letterman’s house and even knew where the child slept.

Hunt said his client “has agreed there were discussions about it, but with no purpose of carrying it out.”

Hunt characterized the discussion as a “lighthearted conversation.”

Teton County Attorney Joe Coble declined comment when asked whether Letterman might be called to testify at the trial.

Frank’s fiancee, Laurie Johnson, told the New York Daily News and the New York Post that Frank had been falsely accused by a childhood friend he had a falling out with.

She said the estranged friend, who also worked at Letterman’s ranch, has a “personal vendetta” against Frank because of a fight they had at work and has been trying to incriminate him ever since.