Three investigators, Ronald DeLia of Security Outsourcing Solutions Inc., Matthew DePante of Action Research Group Inc., and Bryan Wagner of Colorado have all plead not guilty on charges relating to their role in the HP pretexting investigation. Alongside former HP chairman Patricia Dunn and former ethics chief, Kevin Hunsaker the three investiators bring the total number charged in the case to five.

Melbourne Australia-based P.I., Joseph Depante, for his part, has asked for charges to be dropped against his son Matthew, who apparently acted as a contractor in HP's "Kona II investigation" headed up by Gary DeLia of Boston-area P.I. firm Security Outsourcing Solutions. Depante suggested that his son should not be charged because he was acting under the authority of the DeLia's group. Depante also claimed no knowledge of the pretexting tactics employed by HP's agents:

“We had no idea Hewlett-Packard was involved in any of this,” Joseph DePante said Monday. “We were strictly working for DeLia. We are licensed private investigators, but we also provide information and skip-trace work to other companies and entities. We work with a lot of different sources, and those sources work with different investigators.”

More from DePante here.

-- MDT

Labels: Bryan Wagner, HP