Verizon staff did not listen to Obama voicemails

CHICAGO (Reuters) - The contents of U.S. President-elect Barack Obama's voicemail messages and emails were not breached by the Verizon employees who gained unauthorized access to his cell phone account, an Obama aide said on Thursday.

Verizon Wireless said some employees had viewed a personal cell phone account held by Obama that is now inactive. The company, which apologized for the incident, said the device in question was a simple voice phone, not a Blackberry or other device designed for e-mail or other data services.

"We were notified yesterday that employees had accessed the records of an old cell phone no longer in use," the Obama aide said. "No voice or emails were listened to or read."