NEW ORLEANS — Federal prosecutors filed reduced charges Friday against conservative activist James O’Keefe and three others who were accused of trying to tamper with the phones in Sen. Mary Landrieu’s New Orleans office.
The new charges are contained in a bill of information, which typically signals a plea deal. The new filing charges the four with entering a federal building under false pretenses, a misdemeanor.
They had been arrested Jan. 25 on felony charges.
O’Keefe, a videographer famous for wearing a pimp costume in a stunt that embarrassed the ACORN community organizing group, has said the group was trying to investigate complaints that constituents calling Landrieu’s office couldn’t get through to criticize her support of a health care reform bill.
Eddie Castaing, an attorney for another defendant, Joseph Basel, said his client agreed to plead guilty to the new charge so he can “resolve the case and move forward with his life.”
“There is no agreement on sentencing,” Castaing said. “It’s up to the judge.”
The new charges carry maximum sentences of six months in prison and a $5,000 fine.
J. Garrison Jordan, an attorney for defendant Robert Flanagan, said his client has “an agreement worked out with the government” but wouldn’t elaborate.
Landrieu issued a statement Friday in which she said the four men “deliberately deceived both building security and my staff by using phony identities.”
“Clearly they were up to no good,” she said. “These charges indicate that it was not merely an innocent prank. It was a blatant violation of the law that carries with it serious consequences.”
Federal authorities initially accused the four of trying to tamper with Landrieu’s phones, but the new filing merely says they planned to pretend to test the phone system.
