Former Philadelphia TV anchor Larry Mendte was officially charged on Monday with a felony count of intentionally accessing a protected computer without authorization.

According to the  Associated Press, authorities said Larry Mendte, 51, who was fired by KYW-TV last month, hacked into the account of his co-anchor, Alycia Lane, whose personal life had become the talk of the tabloid pages.

"The mere accessing and reading of privileged information is criminal," acting U.S. Attorney Laurie Magid said. "This case, however, went well beyond just reading someone's e-mail."

Since gaining access to Lane's accounts, one at KYW-TV, one at Yahoo, and one at Apple/.mac, Mendte leaked information such as letters from lawyers, unions, and close friends, to the media and others, who could use it to put Lane in the least flattering light.

Authorities said that Mendte accessed Lane's accounts approximately 537 times in a five-month span starting in January. He gained permission to check her personal information two years ago. He logged in to Lane's accounts from home, his desk at work, his Shore home in Ocean City, and even the Union League. Investigators also tracked some phone calls made to the Daily News by Mendte and some calls made by an unnamed Daily News reporter to Mendte.

Mendte's attorney, Michael Schwartz, said the charge against Mendte "should not come as a surprise to anyone."

"As we continually have said from day one, Larry has been cooperating fully with the investigators. He continues to cooperate and will accept full responsibility for his actions," Schwartz said Monday. If convicted, Mendte faces a maximum of five years in prison.

After working together at Philadelphia's CBS-3 station for more than four years, Lane was dismissed in January following an incident with a New York Police Department officer, the latest in a string of headline-grabbing incidents involving Lane.