4 men charged with U.S. Senate office infiltration in New Orleans

(CNN) -- Four men were charged Tuesday after attempting to illegally
access and manipulate the phone system in a district office of U.S. Sen.
Mary Landrieu, D-Louisiana, a local U.S. attorney's office said.

Joseph Basel, 24, Robert Flanagan, 24, James O'Keefe, 25, and Stan Dai,
24, were charged with entering Landrieu's New Orleans office, which is
federal property, under "false pretenses for the purpose of committing a
felony," according to the attorney's office.

Law enforcement officials say they believe the James O'Keefe involved in
the incident is the *** same James O'Keefe involved in ACORN episodes
*** last year.

In August, O'Keefe, a conservative activist, visited ACORN offices
seeking advice on setting up a brothel, among other scenarios. They
secretly recorded their visits on video and posted them on the Web,
leading to a media firestorm.

Basel and O'Keefe attempted to gain access to Landrieu's office Monday
while posing as telephone repairmen, the attorney's office said in a
news release.

Flanagan and Basel were "each dressed in blue denim pants, a blue work
shirt, a light green fluorescent vest, a tool belt and a
construction-style hard hat when they entered the Hale Boggs Federal
Building," the release said.

After they entered the building, the two men told a staffer in
Landrieu's office they were telephone repairmen, according to the
release. They then asked for, and were granted, access to the reception
desk's phone system.

O'Keefe, meanwhile, recorded their actions with a cell phone.


Flanagan and Basel later requested access to a telephone closet,
claiming they needed to perform work on the main phone system, the
release said. Dai aided the others in planning the operation, the
release said.

If convicted, the four men would each face a fine of $250,000 and up to
10 years in prison, according to the release.

"Because the details of yesterday's incident are part of an ongoing
investigation by federal authorities, our office cannot comment at this
time," Landrieu spokesman Aaron Saunders told CNN.