ACORN foe James O'Keefe arrested by FBI in plot to bug Landrieu's office

Washington Post ^ | 1/26/10

[FromLori]

The conservative young filmmaker who tarnished the reputation of a liberal activist group with his undercover videos has been arrested for allegedly trying to bug Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu's office in New Orleans.

Federal investigators allege that James O'Keefe was among a group of four men who created a ruse to enter Landrieu's downtown office for the supposed purpose of repairing the lawmaker's telephones. O'Keefe and another man, Stan Dai, are accused of aiding the plot, while two others, Joseph Basel and Robert Flanagan, are accused of pretending to be telephone company employees, according to federal court records (PDF) unsealed today.

All four, including O'Keefe, were arrested Monday and charged by federal prosecutors with entering federal property under false pretenses and with the intent of committing a felony. If convicted, Flanagan, Basel, O'Keefe and Dai face up to 10 years in prison and a fine of $250,000.

[trumandogz]

Depends on the jury.. if there IS one..... ha ha.

Oh yes, there will be an Orleans Parish jury made-up the fine citizens of New Orleans.

And in the trial of Mr. O'Keefe, you can expect at least one of his co-conspirators to testify against him.

BTW-The prosecutor will be Jim Letten who has no problem with sending political figures to prison.

[txhurl]

Am I in the twilight zone or do defense attorneys assess and select the jurors?

That’s how we do it in Texas.

[trumandogz]

The alleged crime took place in Orleans Parish and the jury will be made-up of people from the New Orleans area.

And no, the defense attorney does not select the entire jury but they can strike a certain number of prospective jurors.

[gussiefinknottle]

i still do not think the story will turn out as reported. but,
having been wrong many times in life, i’ll just have to wait
to see.

[Yardstick]

Yes, they have been quick out of the starting blocks this time.

[naturalized]

. . . well, I think they doth protest too much.

Shakespeare misquote alert. Sorry, but this is number one on my list of things that sound literate but really are the opposite.

[dps.inspect]

Who can say, maybe the guy is more stupid than I think, we’ll have to wait and see. All I know is the left wants this guy’s head on a platter and at this point, with the knowledge available, I’m willing to consider a set-up very probable... You have to ask, why were they there, what kind of information were they there to get, WHO tipped them, why would they risk going to jail for a prank. Something about it is disjointed... waiting on facts to pan out... ping back if ya like, have a good day!

[steve-b]

O'Keefe was already inside the federal building and using a cellular phone to record Flanagan and Basel entering the office, according to the court record of the complaint against the men....

Apparently O'Keefe's Plan B was to rat out Flanagan and Basel to Feds and save his own ass.

[steve-b]

Stupid kids.

If they're doing another sting about prostitution, they got the wrong Louisiana senator.

[steve-b]

The most obvious explanation for him to record this (as I noted earlier) is so that he’s have the option to turn state’s evidence and save his own ass.

[steve-b]

Hmmmm... that “immediately released from jail” tends to support my theory. I smell a rat (in the “betrayer of his co-conspirators to save his own ass” sense of the term).

[steve-b]

And if you do, make sure you have a fall guy. O’Keefe’s making a video recording of his partners doing the illegal deed suggests that he figured out that part, at least, but it didn’t work out because he got caught red-handed at the scene rather than being tracked down later when the bug was discovered.

[MarkAccord]

Trying to sneak into a United States Senator’s office, and tampering with the phone system while pretending you work for the phone company. What could go wrong?