Chris May could barely finish his introduction as his co-anchor, Susan Barnett, informed CBS3 viewers about Larry Mendte’s felony charge at 11 p.m. Walt Hunter had the story.

Same happened over at NBC10, Mendte’s former place of employment before he “made the switch” in 2003.

6ABC waited until after the weather. Commendable.

CNN jumped on the story once the AP got a hold of it. Mendte made their list of top stories.

Isn’t that why Lane got fired, too? Because she, a reporter of the news, made the news herself?

And what about Fox 29? Anchoring the Fox 10 O’Clock News is Dawn Stensland, Mendte’s wife. She was absent from air today, but Kerri-Lee Halkett did release this statement after a package:

Mendte’s wife, Dawn Stensland, anchors right here at Fox 29, doing the News at 10. News management has decided that Dawn will not take part in the reporting or coverage of this story. This hopefully avoids any problems and keeps the process transparent.

Mendte snooped into former co-anchor Alycia Lane’s e-mail at least 537 times between Jan. 1, 2008 and May 28, 2008. But he’s been doing it since 2006, and overall, prosecutors say he has checked her e-mail between 7,000 and 8,000 times.

Reports are saying he had been doing this to ruin Lane’s career.

The Philadelphia media (and beyond) haven’t been the nicest to Lane. She’s made the cover of the New York Post a few times for unflattering stories. These could have been little blips in the radar, but perhaps Mendte made them bigger. What was in it for him, we probably won’t know. Maybe it was for a solo anchor gig, thus more money. But it doesn’t seem worth it now.

Daily News columnist Jill Porter wrote an article about Lane I linked to a few weeks ago, and it seems even more relevant now.

And though she may never have the career she once had, at least she might be able to find some closure.