The Devil Is In The Details... Or Not

The Omaha World-Herald's policy of excluding details of competing media in news stories resulted in this account of the arrest of an advertising agency executive in Wednesday's editions:

On the surface, Scott Lortz's life looked rosy.

The Omaha man was pictured in the Dec. 1 issue of a local business publication, arms crossed and smiling.

An accompanying article boasted the success of the family company, Lortz Direct Marketing. Lortz's father, Gary Lortz, founded the direct-mail advertising agency in 1982. The son joined his dad the next year and worked his way up to president.

The "local business publication" was The Midlands Business Journal.

With that in mind, here is how the article would read using the same style for other details in the story, which was written by Lynn Safranek:

On the surface, Scott Lortz's his life looked rosy.

The Omaha man was pictured in the Dec. 1 issue of a local business publication, arms crossed and smiling.

An accompanying article boasted the success of the family company, Lortz Direct Marketing. Lortz's His father, Gary Lortz, founded the direct-mail advertising agency in 1982 the early 80s. The son joined his dad the next year later and worked his way up to president a higher position in the company.

But the walls were crumbling.

Lortz's His marriage of 22 years a significant number of years was ending. After his wife, Holly Lortz, began divorce proceedings in October last year, she asked a judge to prevent her husband from removing funds from any retirement accounts with money in them.

"I have reason to believe that my husband . . . has been involved in significant felonious criminal activity across state lines which may place our marital assets in jeopardy," the court records state.

That alleged criminal activity soon would come to light - with Holly Lortz's his wife's help.

Lortz He has been in jail since the Nebraska State Patrol a statewide law enforcement agency arrested him Friday at his office on accusations that he sexually assaulted disturbed a New Jersey teenager from the East Coast he met on the Internet a computer system with vast communication capability.

Lortz, 46, of 5928 S. 118th Plaza The middle-aged man, who lives in Southwest Omaha, is accused of traveling to the township of West Windsor, N.J., a while back in the summer of 2005 and "carrying on a relationship" with a 14-year-old young teenage boy, said Casey DeBlasio, a spokeswoman for the Mercer County a prosecutor's office in New Jersey.

He was charged in Douglas County with child enticement with a computer a crime, a felony punishable by up to five several years in prison.

Lortz He also faces seven counts of sexual assault and one count of endangering the welfare of a child other crimes in Mercer County. All the charges relate to the same boy, DeBlasio said.

A search warrant legal piece of paper filed Tuesday in Douglas County District Court described the investigation:

Lortz He and the boy met in an America Online chat room popular online location for gay men who prefer spending time with others of the same gender in June 2005 a couple years ago. A month Sometime later, they began meeting in person for sexual encounters more than just talk at hotels places of lodging in Princeton, N.J.; New York City; and Philadelphia outside Nebraska. Last February year, while arranging their last meeting, Lortz he told the boy he was married not available and from Nebraska somewhere else.

The boy, now 16, contacted New Jersey authorities about a week ago. That's when authorities they contacted Holly Lortz his wife.

Holly Lortz She told investigators that she had evidence of her estranged husband's acts. Once, when her husband was at work not around, she had logged onto her computer and created a fake America Online profile of a 15-year-old teenage boy from Kansas City the Midwest.

When she instant-messaged her husband with the fake profile, he asked how old the person was. Scott Lortz He then discussed "sexual contact" inappropriate things and said he would go to Kansas City a city south of Omaha to perform sex acts something a "family newspaper" can't mention.

Holly Lortz His wife gave investigators copies of cell phone bills from a mobile phone that showed about 39 phone calls to the New Jersey boy from July 2005 to January 2006 about a year's time.

Holly Lortz She also provided investigators with e-mails messages from her husband to her in which he admitted to "having contact" with the underage boy. In one, Scott Lortz he wrote, "I am not anywhere close to the monster or pedophile that you think I am."

Douglas County A judge Stephen Swartz set Lortz's bail on the enticement charge at $100,000 a high amount and at $10,000 a much lesser amount for the eight other charges in New Jersey. He must pay $11,000 between the lesser amount and the higher amount to be released.

Lortz's His attorney, Mike Fabian, said he plans to fight Lortz's extradition to New Jersey to keep his client in a jail cell he knows.

Lortz Direct A local advertising agency issued a statement Tuesday morning saying Scott Lortz its high-ranking employee had left the firm and had been replaced by his father a relative.