Courtesy Chicago Sun Times

(June 19, 2009) The deepening scandal involving fugitive financier David Hernandez, sports broadcasting legend Mike North and the now- defunct ChicagoSportsWebio .com has rapidly turned into hot fodder for local sports talk broadcasts.

The Sun-Times reported Thursday that sports broadcaster Tom Shaer said he knew of Hernandez's felony background but said nothing to North about it when he heard Hernandez was involved in backing North's Web radio start-up and his "Monsters in the Morning" talk show on Comcast SportsNet.

"I didn't think it was my place to butt into somebody else's business," Shaer said.

Brandishing the Sun-Times article, North attacked Shaer on his "Monsters" show. "Tom, if somebody is getting raped on the street, you don't butt in?"

On sports/talk WSCR-AM (670), Dan McNeil served as a referee during a segment on his show devoted to the scandal. Chet Coppock, an afternoon host on Webio who was out after the Web-based broadcasting outlet shut down Tuesday, and Shaer appeared separately on the show.

Coppock expressed outrage that Shaer didn't alert others and should have.

Shaer reiterated: "I think I did the right thing because I knew of nothing negative that was happening this year involving Hernandez." He told the Sun-Times Thursday he regrets speaking out about Hernandez, especially given the reactions.