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Letter to the editor

Where is Pearlman? E-mails tell

By HELEN HUNTLEY
Published June 15, 2007

An alert German tourist tipped off the FBI that Lou Pearlman was staying at his hotel in Nusa Dua, Bali, in Indonesia. I know because I forwarded his e-mails to the FBI -- with his permission.

Investigators already knew Pearlman might be in Bali because a letter mailed from Indonesia showed up in one of the Pearlman-related bankruptcy cases. However, there were numerous Pearlman sightings reported from around the globe, including one caught on camera in Berlin in February. He also was supposedly seen in Dubai, Brazil, Russia and other countries.

Thorsten Iborg, a 32-year-old computer programmer, e-mailed me Sunday to say that he was vacationing in Southeast Asia and that another guest at his hotel looked like Pearlman. "I've checked several Web sites to a photograph of him," he wrote me. " I think it is Mr. Pearlman."

I asked him for details.

"Is there any bounty for him?" he wanted to know before answering. "If it is like that, which organization I've to contact? Until that I'll keep it secret." He promised to try to get a picture.

I wrote back explaining there was no bounty and told him how to contact the FBI. He decided to spill the beans. "We are at the Westin Resort at Nusa Dua, Bali," he wrote me. "Perhaps you like to share this information with the proper FBI office."

I did, and the FBI took it from there.

[Last modified June 15, 2007, 01:15:36]