More info from a Times-Picayune article that was reproduced on the
RadioDiscussions messageboard (note that it says Dunlap was under financial strain):
New Orleans police on Thursday obtained a search warrant seeking information from WWL Radio host Seth Dunlap’s cellphone, which is at the center of a high-stakes investigation involving allegations of extortion, according to multiple law enforcement sources.
The warrant seeks information from the service provider T-Mobile. It’s a move aimed at verifying claims made by WWL Radio and its parent company, Pennsylvania-based Entercom Communications, that a homophobic message aimed at Dunlap and sent from the radio station’s account was actually sent by Dunlap himself.
According to an NOPD report, WWL Radio made those claims after it hired a forensic specialist who examined the station’s “Internet system, software and hardware.”
The radio station has said Dunlap sent the tweet and then demanded nearly $2 million from the station, citing the insult and threatening workplace harassment-related litigation. Dunlap was facing significant personal financial strain, according to the station.
The station told the NOPD that the forensic investigation found an IP address — a unique number given to a piece of hardware, such as a cellphone — connected to the tweet that was associated with Dunlap’s phone.
Megan Kiefer, Dunlap’s attorney, has disputed the claims, saying the radio station has not done anything to prove them. She’s noted that her client passed a lie-detector test centering on his denials that he sent the tweet in question.
She has also said that WWL Radio went to the police only after the breakdown of negotiations to settle Dunlap’s complaints about a work culture he perceived as homophobic.
>>She also said that WWL Radio went to law enforcement only after the station unsuccessfully tried to settle Dunlap’s workplace complaints for a low amount.