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Alleging a plot to tamper with phones in Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu’s office in the Hale Boggs Federal Building in downtown New Orleans, the FBI arrested four people Monday, including James O’Keefe, 25, a conservative filmmaker whose undercover videos at ACORN field offices severely damaged the advocacy group’s credibility.
Also arrested were Joseph Basel, Stan Dai and Robert Flanagan, all 24. Flanagan is the son of William Flanagan, who is the acting U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Louisiana, the office confirmed. All four were charged with entering federal property under false pretenses with the intent of committing a felony.
According to the FBI affidavit, Flanagan and Basel entered the federal building at 500 Poydras Street about 11 a.m. Monday, dressed as telephone company employees, wearing jeans, fluorescent green vests, tool belts, and hard hats. When they arrived at Landrieu’s 10th floor office, O’Keefe was already in the office and had told a staffer he was waiting for someone to arrive.
When Flanagan and Basel entered the office, they told the staffer they were there to fix phone problems. At that time, the staffer, referred to only as Witness 1 in the affadavit, observed O’Keefe positioning his cell phone in his hand to videotape the operation. O’Keefe later admitted to agents that he recorded the event.
They…told the staffer they needed to perform repair work on the main phone system and asked where the telephone closet was located.
The staffer showed the men to the main General Services Administration office on the 10th floor, and Flanagan and Basel went in. There, a GSA employee asked for the men’s credentials, after which they stated they left them in their vehicle.
The U.S. Marshal’s Service apprehended all four men shortly thereafter.
They’re up for a fine of $250,000 and up to 10 years in prison – each – if convicted. Wanna bet?
looks like it is a crime to try to stop 13 yo girls from being Hookers.
Looks like ACORN jumped the gun on this one (Shocking!!)
Only a complete moron would believe they were actually wiretapping anything.
They were obviously fishing for something under the guise of “telephone repair”. What? Who knows.
At most, they will get nailed for trespassing.
Easy, cheap advertising. They played ACORN again.
1 words. Idiots.
What Knuckleheads. How is this any different then a Russian/Chinese/etc. spy infiltrating ANY Senator’s office fishing for info?
the Tiki
@#4 Different as it is done to expose wrong doing, not steal. Moral and practical equivalent of journalists who broke the truth about Watergate, not of the people who were doing Watergate.
This should be considered a terrorist act. Is Guantanamo still open…
#5 Dusanmal
So if China thinks we as a country are doing things “wrong” it’s OK for them to infiltrate ANY US officials office to prove their point?
I honestly can see eye to eye with you on this one. Wrong is wrong. This whole GOTCHA society is spiraling out of control.
the Tiki
dusanmal…good luck if they attempt that defense, it’s a non-starter. Once they say “I did it” the part where they say “because they were…” is irrelevant.
I’m sure the fed pen in Loozyana is all sorts of fun.
ACK! I meant “can’t see eye to eye” in my last post.
I wish there was an edit feature here. 🙂
the Tiki
Given the sophomoric Acorn dust up, seems like he wanted to ‘record’ how a crew could undermine security and infiltrate a government office.
If nothing else, I hope this shows what a bunch of losers these idiots are.
[Comment deleted – Violation of Posting Guidelines. – ed.]
O’Keefe and pals will need this:
http://prisonbitchname.com/
Why would James O’Keefe risk himself attacking a Democrat loser? Wait until she sinks herself!
I guess the leftists were so stinging from their loss of the Health Control Bill, they wanted to get revenge somehow. James shouldn’t have been near New Orleans.
This sounds like “black propaganda” by the left end of the Democratic party — frame the opposition. If they collect enough liars against James, the Democratic machine in New Orleans will put him away for a long time.
When his lawyer was interviewed, he hadn’t been able to talk to James yet.
@Ah_Yea: what are you even talking about? They tried to affix a device to a phone; we’re just working off the available information.
@Timuchin: what are you even talking about? Did the democrats lure him into the seedy underbelly that is a federal building, attempting to entrap him by secretly convincing him to bug their phone system? What are you smoking?
Impersonating a Verizon telephone employee is what got them into trouble. They falsely raised the hopes of the staff that they would actually receive service in a timely manner.
Q Why can’t you call God on the telephone?
A Because even God can’t get service from Verizon.
Guys like this who do dirty tricks for each side are not the brightest lights on the Christmas tree. They usually look like aging C average students who haven’t outgrown panty raids and keggers.
Tea Bag Gate for the Repukes !!! Won’t they ever learn ? Felony Tresspass should get them a nice “vacation” at club fed !!!
Did these idiots drive up in their own vehicles? Even Barney Fife would be suspicious of “telephone repairmen” who did not drive up in a company emblazoned vehicle.
Maybe these fools watched one too many episodes of “The Rockford Files” and thought they would just produce a business card and sweet-talk their way in.
And for the Tech angle: What kind of cellphone was O’Keefe using to try to capture the video?
Oh, it’s just a childish PRANK! Give these guys a break. We should just slap them on the wrist and wait till they go all posse on some innocent kid, stringing him up for terrorism.
THEN we should fine these guys. Money is a powerful deterrent.
Politicians should all have their phones tapped and be under 24/7. Their actions are in the service to TEH PEOPLE!
Just ten years? How about the chair? Strap ’em in and make ’em watch bad movies. And then, in respect to the esteemed Kangarooster, some bad TV, though I rather think that Rockford was among the better of that genre. No, I think the perps would get attenuated before they’d ever get to see Rockford.
[Comment deleted – Violation of Posting Guidelines. – ed.]
1. I don’t actually know what the heck they were up to. That will be made clear later.
2. Whatever it was it was ill advised.
3. They are in deep bleep.
#23 You do know “The Rockford Files” is on the NRA’s (and thus GOP) sh*t list. That damn commie Rockford saying he doesn’t like guns and all. Yep, its right up there with Lynyrd Skynyrd because of their song “Saturday Night Special”. Damn liberal commie left-wing Hollywood commie SOBs.
None of the “stung” Acorn employees committed any crimes.
The heroic conservatives who went after them are actual criminals committing actual crimes.
I wonder who Fox News will root for…?
W-A-T-E-R-G-A-T-E.
Same apologies, same apologists, same political party.
Hang ’em high!
#27 – you mean the same Fox Network that wouldn’t carry the Haiti Telethon?
Hmmmm…. Whatever happened to that charming elderly couple who just happened to have equipment in their car that just happened to intercept a cell phone conversation by Newt Gingrich who they just happened to be trailing?
I don’t recall that they were ever charged with anything….
But, of course, they had good intentions.