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LOS ANGELES (AP) The founder of celebrity news site TMZ.com is promising a fight after he says the Los Angeles County sheriff department obtained his phone records in its investigation into who leaked a report on Mel Gibson's 2006 arrest for suspicion of drunken driving.

Harvey Levin's comments came Monday night during a speech at UCLA at an event hosted by the Radio and Television News Association of Southern California.

Levin says he considers the department's actions an assault on the First Amendment. He says TMZ has met with lawyers and is "charting our course of action." An after-hours call to a sheriff's department spokesman was not answered.

Records obtained by investigators showed several calls between Levin and the home of Deputy James Mee, who arrested Gibson.

Prosecutors declined to charge Mee, citing a lack of proof he leaked details about the case.

(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.) APNP 10-20-09 0439CDT | save this article / add to your favorites list