2 of Brockovich's ex-beaus arrested in extortion sting

THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. - An ex-husband and an ex-boyfriend of the real-life Erin Brockovich have been arrested in a sting and charged with trying to extort about $300,000 from her and her boss.

The two men were threatening to go to the media with accusations about Brockovich, the tart-tongued legal secretary whose work on a toxic-waste case is the basis of the hit movie starring Julia Roberts, officials said.

"The threat was that they were going to go to the press and say that Erin and I had a sexual relationship and that Erin was a bad mother," her boss, attorney Ed Masry, told the Los Angeles Times. Masry is portrayed by British actor Albert Finney in the film.

"Frankly, this whole thing really makes me sick," Brockovich told the Daily News of Los Angeles.

The arrests Wednesday of ex-husband Shawn William Brown, ex-boyfriend Jorg Lawrence Halaby and their lawyer John Jeffrey Reiner culminated a two-week investigation by the Ventura County district attorney's office and the FBI.

Investigators were outside Brockovich's attorney's office Wednesday as Brockovich and Masry handed over checks totaling $310,000 to the three men, who signed an agreement calling for their silence, according to the complaint filed by the district attorney's office.

Hidden cameras were rolling, and investigators made their arrests after Brockovich and Masry left the room, officials said.

Brown, 38, of Simi Valley; Halaby, 46, of Costa Mesa; and Reiner, 53, whose office is in Century City, were booked at Ventura County Jail with bail set at $50,000 each.

Brown and Reiner had been released by late Wednesday, and Halaby was expected to be released soon, said a jail-records technician.

Brockovich and Masry released a statement Wednesday that read in part: "The very idea that there has ever been anything improper about our relationship is of course ludicrous."

In the blockbuster movie, Brockovich goes to work for Masry as an assistant, and through hard work, initiative and guile uncovers power-plant pollution in a small town in the Mojave Desert and helps win a $333 million settlement from Pacific Gas & Electric.