The Justice Department has reduced charges brought against James O'Keefe, a conservative activist, and his cohorts for breaking into the New Orleans office of Sen. Mary Landrieu (D).
O'Keefe, Joseph Basil, Stan Dai and Robert Flanagan, were charged with "one-count bill of information with entering real property of the United States under false pretenses," a misdemeanor charge.
The decision was made by the U.S. Attorney's office in the Eastern District of Louisiana. The four young men were originally charged with entering federal property under false pretenses with the intent of committing a felony and were
arrested by federal authorities in January.
O'Keefe is best known for posing as a pimp and filming members of the soon-to-be defunct community group ACORN undercover.
Dai and O'Keefe were accused of aiding and abetting Flanagan and Basel, who were caught dressed up as telephone company employees and were allegedly trying to interfere with the phone system.
O'Keefe later
explained the ploy as an attempt to embarrass Landrieu for allegedly ignoring telephone calls from constituents.
The filmmaker has always maintained that he was not trying to wiretap the senator's phones, as some media outlets reported at the time of his arrest.