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Cyndi Lundeberg, who once worked at KVVU Channel 5, shared the news on social media. She made clear that the money went to her four-year-old son and that she took none of it for herself. Journalism ethics experts had mixed reactions to the gift.
Lundeberg first met Lobato around 2015 while Lobato was still locked up. At first she thought Lobato was guilty, but she kept digging into the case. She later became convinced that Lobato had been in Panaca, far from Las Vegas, when the killing took place and that police had made serious mistakes.
Over time the two grew close. Lundeberg put together investigative stories about the case and admitted she became emotionally invested.
She said she sometimes gave Lobato a few hundred dollars after her release, and that Lobato always insisted she would pay it back. Lundeberg said she never wanted anything in return for her work.
In late 2024, a federal jury found that two retired Metro detectives had fabricated evidence against Lobato and caused her intentional emotional distress. The jury awarded her $34 million. Lobato recently took a $29.5 million settlement so she would not have to wait through years of appeals.
Lundeberg said she found out about the gift to her son through Lobato’s financial advisor. She would not say how much was given. Lobato’s lawyer, David Owens, asked that she be left alone and said the story was not newsworthy. Neither Lobato nor her attorney would discuss the amount.
What Ethics Experts Said
Some journalism professors saw little real harm because Lundeberg is no longer working as a reporter. Others worried about how it looks and what message it sends. Lundeberg has said she has no plans to go back into journalism and that she only got involved because she believed it was the right thing to do.
Wrongful conviction cases show how much can rest on what investigators write down, what gets left out of reports, and whether the timeline even holds up.
Perhaps the statements attributed to you were never said that way. Perhaps key facts about where you were or when something happened were never fully checked.
Perhaps pressure to close a case outweighed careful review. If this is you and you are worried that the case against you rests on shaky ground, do not carry that alone.
At LV Criminal Defense, our team has years of experience handling serious criminal cases in Clark County where the quality of the evidence and the conduct of the investigation are central.
Please contact our office or call us using the contact information on our home page. We will review the facts and stand ready to protect your rights.
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