Charges reduced in Landrieu break-in

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NEW ORLEANS, March 27 (UPI) -- Prosecutors have brought misdemeanor charges against James O'Keefe III, who was arrested in January in a federal office building in New Orleans.

In an information filed Friday, the U.S. Attorney's Office charged O'Keefe and three other men with entering Sen. Mary Landrieu's office under false pretenses, The New York Times reported. The group had faced felony charges carrying sentences of up to 10 years.

O'Keefe, 25, is best known for posing as a pimp in an undercover sting of the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, or ACORN. Videotapes that showed ACORN employees giving him financial advice led to the group losing federal funds and much of its private funding.

J. Garrison Jordan, a lawyer representing Raymond Flanagan, son of the acting U.S. attorney for Shreveport and one of O'Keefe's co-defendants, told the Times a plea deal has been worked out. He called it a "fair resolution of the matter" but would not give details.

Two members of the group were allegedly posing as telephone repairmen.

O'Keefe, in an interview with Sean Hannity on Fox News, said the group was checking on complaints that Landrieu's office ignored telephone calls from constituents opposed to the Democratic healthcare plan.