Splash News, the paparazzi agency that specializes in the zits-and-all shots found in Star and Us Weekly, turned its lenses on celeb-blogger Mario Lavandeira Tuesday. With cameras blazing, a Splash agent approached him at his Hollywood haunt, the Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf, and handed him a manilla envelope, just like on Law & Order.

But it didn't contain a subpoena or even real "court papers," despite reports by several gossip blogs, including one that has a business relationship with Lavandeira (aka Perez Hilton). According to multiple sources, the envelope actually contained a series of cease-and-desist letters—the equivalent of junk mail in Perez's world. The only difference was the film crew.

Lavandeira, caught mid-muffin bite and wearing a baseball cap and retiree-style tracksuit, responded, "Go ahead! Sue me. It's good for publicity," according to witnesses.

And that's the plan. In the latest round of saber rattling targeting Lavandeira specifically and all paparazzi pic-pilfering bloggers by proxy, Splash News President Kevin Smith tells Radar that he's fed up and plans to file an actual suit against Lavandeira soon.

[Video of Splash "serving" Lavandeira after the jump]

Echoing comments made to Radar by celebrity photo agency X17, Smith says he's planning a three-pronged attack: A civil suit to be filed in Santa Monica court, a potential class-action suit likely involving Splash and several of its rival photo agencies (including X17), and a criminal copyright infringement complaint.

Smith declined to provide a date for his forthcoming court filings, saying, "I don't want to warn him. But I think I will personally serve him. He wants to be famous. I think it's only fair that he sees the downside of fame, too."

Smith says he has caught at least one celebrity magazine employee leaking photos to Lavandeira when the magazine lost a bidding war for the shots (He wouldn't name the magazine or the employee but says the leaker was fired), and says he suspects Lavandeira of hacking into Splash affiliates' Web servers to lift photos. His evidence: He claims Perez has posted Splash's photos and videos before Smith or his colleagues have even seen them. Splash's main computers are secure, Smith says, but those of its far-flung, star-chasing affiliates are more susceptible to breaches.

"I'm concerned that he's breaking into my house," Smith says, somewhat cryptically. "I'm not concerned with how he's breaking into my house."

In the past week, he says, Lavandeira posted an interview with K-Fed's original babymama, Shar Jackson, which Splash says it shot exclusively and had not distributed prior to Perez's posting (via YouTube, which removed the clip at Splash's request; Perez's broken post is still visible). Lavandeira also posted an exclusive Splash shot of a downtrodden K-Fed shopping at Wal-Mart but took it down after Splash complained on Saturday.

"That picture would have fetched $100,000," Smith crows. "He's been stealing from us for a very long time. This isn't petty."

Smith wouldn't say how much he plans to seek in potential damages. But he did reference a diamond-encrusted pinky ring Perez has flaunted on his own site. "I predict that six months from now, I will be wearing that ring," he says.

At press time, Lavandeira had not posted anything on perezhilton.com about the latest threatened legal action. Reached by phone, he said he was on the other line and couldn't talk. Subsequent calls were not returned.




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