Rockefeller beefs up legal defense team

BOSTON - The man who calls himself Clark Rockefeller has beefed up his legal defense team by hiring a high-profile Boston criminal law firm.

Jeffrey Denner, a partner with the firm Denner Pellegrino, told the Boston Herald on Monday that a lawyer in the firm has joined the defense for Rockefeller, who authorities say is actually Christian Karl Gerhartsreiter.

Authorities have charged Gerhartsreiter, a German citizen, with kidnapping his 7-year-old daughter last summer.

Gerhartsreiter also faces a claim from his ex-wife, who wants to be reimbursed up to $80,000 for bills she ran up after her daughter
was taken last summer.

Gary Koops, a spokesman for Sandra Boss, said the money would cover legal fees and the costs of her stay in Boston during the search and subsequent legal proceedings.