BATON ROUGE, La. (BRPROUD) – LSU confirms that American Idol star Laine Hardy was arrested on Friday, April 29.
This comes after reports of an arrest warrant being issued for Hardy by LSU Police on Thursday.
Hardy was arrested by LSU Police Friday and booked into East Baton Rouge Parish Prison for allegedly bugging his former girlfriend’s dorm room. He is charged with Interception and Disclosure of Wire, Electronic, or Oral Communication.
On April 7, the victim and her roommate were watching a movie in their dorm room, according to documents. The duo found “a device appearing to be a phone charger,” according to the affidavit. The device turned out to be a recorder and it was found under the victim’s bed.
The affidavit states that the victim and Laine Hardy started dating in November of last year.
The victim learned about the crime in February and during that month “found a fake Instagram account on the Defendant’s phone that he used to cover up that he was illegally recording her when he was not around,” according to the affidavit.
Hardy allegedly knew about stuff that the victim did during Christmas break which the victim had not disclosed to the American Idol winner.
The affidavit states that the Livingston Parish native confessed to the victim that a “bug” was left in her room.
Hardy claims to have taken the “bug” out of the room. The victim provided a screenshot of a Snapchat message where Hardy again confessed to leaving the “bug” in her room.
Arrest documents said an investigator with the LSU Police Department proceeded to listen to the recorder and gather evidence, which included recordings that seem to show the device being taken into the dorm. Hardy eventually left the dorm and conversations between the victim and her roommates were located on the recorder, according to the affidavit.
On one of the final recordings, the investigator heard the victim “telling someone about how she figured out the Defendant was recording her and that she doesn’t know if the ‘bug is still in her room,” police documents showed.
If convicted, Hardy could face anywhere from two to ten years behind bars and a fine of up to $10,000.
Laine Hardy’s attorney, C. Frank Holthaus, responded with the following statement:
I can confirm that Mr. Hardy did receive a warrant for his arrest earlier today and has been and will continue to be completely cooperative with the Baton Rouge Police Department on this matter. Due to the public nature of Mr. Hardy’s profession, we ask for privacy at this time.