Lawyer: Don't judge arrested WTNH-TV reporter

NEW HAVEN, Conn. (AP) — The lawyer for a television traffic reporter charged with shoplifting is asking the public to withhold judgment about her until all the facts come out.

Thirty-three-year-old Desiree Fontaine was charged Saturday with taking nearly $105 worth of merchandise from a Sears store at a mall in Milford.

Fontaine is the morning news traffic reporter for WTNH-TV in New Haven and also hosts the station's "Connecticut Style" program.

Her lawyer, Hugh Keefe, told the New Haven Register on Monday that Fontaine deserves the benefit of doubt, and he says things aren't always as they seem at first. He declined to comment on the allegations.

There's no phone listing for Fontaine. WTNH News Director Kirk Varner has said the station doesn't comment on personnel matters.