Cruise photo case man sentenced

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A man who helped try to force Tom Cruise to pay $1.3m (£0.6m) for stolen photos of the actor's wedding has been sentenced to two years probation.

Computer technician Marc Gittleman, 34, who had pleaded guilty to interstate transportation of stolen property, was also fined $3,000 (£1,535).

His co-defendant, David Hans Schmidt, committed suicide at his Arizona home last year.

The actor married Katie Holmes in a lavish Italian ceremony in May 2006.

According to court documents, Gittleman kept more than 7,000 copies of photos taken at the wedding after a photographer brought a damaged computer hard drive to him for repair.

He then contacted Schmidt, 47, who was known for peddling nude photos and sex tapes of celebrities, and e-mailed Mr Cruise demanding $1.3m (£0.6m) to keep the pictures private.

'Unimaginable shame'

Mr Cruise's representatives called authorities, who set up a sting operation to catch Gittleman and Schmidt.

Gittleman, who had no prior criminal record, had pleaded guilty in Los Angeles in September to transporting stolen property.

At his sentence hearing on Thursday, he told Los Angeles Superior Court he was sorry, saying he had "brought unimaginable shame upon myself and my family".

His lawyer, Richard Hirsch, described said it was an impulsive act that showed "colossal bad judgment".

US District Judge George King and lawyers for both sides agreed that a prison sentence was not needed.

Schmidt committed suicide at his home in Phoenix, Arizona in September, two weeks before he was due to enter a guilty plea for his part in the attempted extortion.