TV Anchor Gets Restraining Order ... Against Co-Host

Apparently those morning fluff programs are a really cutthroat business. Although this sounds like something straight out of Anchorman.

A western Wisconsin anchorwoman was granted a restraining order Tuesday against her morning co-host after he admitted knowing his roommate was sending her harassing e-mails.

Amy DuPont, a 30-year-old anchorwoman for WXOW-TV, testified that she received 21 harassing e-mails since August 2007 -- some while the show "Daybreak" was airing.

According to court records, DuPont said the author of the e-mails wrote that he was sick of hearing about her child and that she should go on extended maternity leave. The author, who signed the e-mails "Mario," wrote that she was terrible at her job but that co-host and meteorologist Zach Brown was great, she testified.

The e-mails also were sent to her co-workers and bosses, said DuPont, who believed they were sent to scare and humiliate her.

In a phone interview, La Crosse County sheriff's Captain Kurt Papenfuss said the Houston County, Minn., sheriff's department traced the e-mails to a computer at Brown's apartment in La Crosse.

The IP address never lies, baby.

Brown's roommate, Jonathan Edwards, testified that he sent the e-mails, which he called "constructive criticism." He said DuPont was mean to Brown, 27, but Brown never stuck up for himself.

Brown testified that he knew his roommate was sending the e-mails and asked him to stop, but it never occurred to him that it was harassment. Brown said he took the e-mails "with a grain of salt."

DuPont said she and Brown had a good working relationship and that she told him about the e-mails. She claimed he knew they upset her, which Brown denied.

La Crosse County Family Court Commissioner Gloria Doyle called the case disturbing and ordered Brown to not have any contact with DuPont, to stay 100 feet away from her home and to stay away from her child. The restraining order lasts for five years.