Reports of wire taps emerge in Drew Peterson case

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Reports of wire taps emerge in Drew Peterson case
By DON BABWIN – 2 hours ago
CHICAGO (AP) — Two friends of former police officer DrewPeterson told a newspaper he made incriminating statements duringsecretly taped conversations following the disappearance of hisfourth wife — claims that Peterson denies.
"If they recorded me for seven months, it's going to clear me morethan it's going to hurt me," Peterson told The Associated Press onWednesday.
Paula Stark and her husband, Len Wawczak, told the ChicagoSun-Times that they secretly taped Peterson after being contactedby the Illinois State Police in mid-November. They said theycontinued recording conversations through mid-June, the newspaperreported Wednesday.
The couple claimed, among other things, that the former suburbanBolingbrook police sergeant had wished aloud that he'd cremated histhird wife's remains and asked them to set fire to a memorial tohis missing wife, Stacy.
"If I said anything close to that, it was taken out of context,"Peterson told the AP.
He repeated his denials on Thursday morning talk shows.
Neither the state police nor the Will County State's Attorney'soffice would comment about the couple's account.
Stark told ABC's "Good Morning America" on Thursday that she canprove the tapes exist and said she was motivated partly by the oddway Peterson was acting after his wife's disappearance.
Peterson's attorney, Joel Brodsky, said he doesn't know if thereare any tapes, but said if there are, he also is confident Petersonsaid nothing incriminating on them.
"We kind of say, if there are tapes of everything Drew said for thelast eight months, bring it on," Brodsky told the AP. "Even if theydid some minor wiring for the state police a couple of times,there's certainly nothing incriminating on there."
The investigation into Stacy Peterson's disappearance in Octoberhas drawn worldwide media attention. Authorities have said theybelieve she is dead, and extensive searches have been conducted inforests, marshes, lakes and other areas in suburban Chicago.
Police are also investigating the death of Drew Peterson'sprevious, third wife, Kathleen Savio. She was found dead in abathtub in 2004 and her death has been reclassified as a homicide.
Drew Peterson denies involvement in his fourth wife's disappearanceand says he believes she left him for another man. He has not beennamed a suspect in his third wife's death.
Peterson and Brodsky questioned the couple's motives, and wonderedif they were looking for a big payday. Peterson said the couple hadasked him for money and became angry when he would not lend it tothem.