Laine Hardy, 2019 ‘American Idol’ champ, accused of bugging ex-girlfriend’s dorm room

BATON ROUGE, La. — Laine Hardy, who took the “American Idol” crown in 2019, was arrested Friday, three weeks after his ex-girlfriend found a recording device in her Louisiana State University dorm room.

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According to the arrest warrant, a woman and her roommate found a recording device inside their dorm room on April 6. The following day, they reported the finding to LSU police, WWL-TV reported.

According to the TV station, the victim told police that she first mistook the device for a phone charger, but online research confirmed it to be a surveillance device.

Twenty-one-year-old Hardy is a Livingston, Louisiana, native, and has never been enrolled at LSU, WBRZ confirmed.

Hardy, who surrendered to the LSU Police Department and was booked into the East Baton Rouge Parish Prison, faces a felony charge of interception and disclosure of wire, electronic or oral communication, LSU spokesman Ernie Ballard confirmed to WWL-TV.

Hardy’s attorney, C. Frank Holthaus, said in a statement to USA Today that his client “has been and will continue to be completely cooperative with the Louisiana State University Police Department on this matter.”

Investigators found several recordings on the device dating back as far as Feb. 10, including some where they could hear Hardy’s “very distinguishable” voice, WBRZ reported, noting that some of the content was recorded after the couple broke up later that month.

Hardy issued the following statement Friday morning via social media:

According to Hardy’s arrest warrant, the couple dated about four months.

Per WBRZ: “The victim told police she first confronted Hardy because he knew a suspicious amount of detail about what she did during her Christmas break. Hardy allegedly admitted to planting a “bug” but claimed he disposed of it in his pond. The victim also provided police a screenshot of a text conversation where he admitted to leaving the device in her dorm.”

The warrant also indicated that Hardy removed the recorder at some point to check it before planting it back in the victim’s room.

If convicted, Hardy faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a $10,000 fine, WWL-TV reported.

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