Attorney files lawsuit over e-mail's alleged satanic claims

July 19, 2001

A former US councillor has lodged a $2 million libel suit over an e-mail allegedly calling him a child-molesting Satanic priest.

Former Los Angeles city councillor Art Snyder has accused a member of Altadena Town Council of sending the e-mail.

He claims Steve Lamb sent it with malice and reckless disregard for the truth.

"I cannot believe anyone thought they could get away with saying this about anyone," Mr Snyder is reported as saying in the Los Angeles Times.

"People today say the most irresponsible things about people. We've got to stop it. This is utterly malicious."

In the e-mail, the 68-year-old attorney is allegedly called a child molester who was once secretly photographed officiating over a Satan-worshiping ceremony. The suit also alleges the e-mail says Mr Snyder befriended Angelo Buono, one of two men convicted in the Hillside Strangler murders of the late 1970s.

The paper said Mr Lamb could not be reached for comment but e-mailed several people, including a reporter, to say: "It is my understanding that all of my e-mails are private, privileged correspondence among friends, given in confidence and restricted to the listed recipients only. If you do not accept this understanding, please notify me that I may permanently remove your e-mail from my list."