Local cops get blame

Law enforcement officers in four agencies leaked information and rumor about Elizabeth Smart's kidnapping investigation, and an attorney for the family on Friday asked the area's top cops to get to the bottom of it.

In a crowded press conference at his downtown law offices, Randy Dryer said he has the names of several law enforcement officers in the agencies who inappropriately gave out incorrect information that made its way into a National Enquirer story through two Tribune reporters, Michael Vigh and Kevin Cantera.

"The primary victims in this entire affair have been the Smart family," Dryer said— victims first of the kidnappers, then of the article published in the National Enquirer, then by the two Tribune reporters who "lost their way," and also by law enforcement, Dryer said.

Dryer gathered reporters to announce the results of his investigation into leaks and rumors that appeared in the National Enquirer in a July 2 story.

"Law enforcement was the original source of these rumors that ultimately found their way to Vigh and Cantera and then to the National Enquirer," Dryer said.

He also said one of the two Tribune reporters who worked with the Enquirer and was fired for his behavior made up the most sensational detail of the tabloid story — that police had a journal detailing alleged sadomasochistic and salacious behavior involving Elizabeth's father and her two uncles.

"The journal was an embellishment by Mr. Cantera," he said. "In his interview with me, he acknowledged there was no journal."

Cantera's attorney, Lee Curtis, said his client would not be available to comment Friday night.

Dryer was hired by the Smarts to answer two questions: Who was the source of the false information given to the National Enquirer and can this be prevented from happening again.

In an effort to get to the root of the leaks — and under threat of a lawsuit — Cantera and Vigh met for two hours with Dryer, and the two revealed their undisclosed sources on the tabloid story and about a half-dozen other Tribune stories under scrutiny that the two wrote about the Smart case.

A statement issued by the Smart family said: "It is our hope that the information Vigh and Cantera have provided to our attorney will result in a serious examination of the appropriate ethical standards under which both the media and law enforcement should operate."