In the wake of a second online-commenting scandal in his office, U.S. Attorney Jim Letten has promoted veteran prosecutor Fred Harper to acting First Assistant U.S. Attorney and chief of the office's criminal division, Letten said Friday morning.
Letten announced Thursday that his longtime First Assistant, Jan Mann, had been demoted after landfill magnate Fred Heebe filed a defamation lawsuit claiming Mann had tarred him in pseudonymous online comments posted at NOLA.com.
Harper had served deputy chief of the criminal division under Mann, who has been Letten's top lieutenant since he was appointed acting U.S. Attorney 2001.
Heebe claimed Mann had used the alias "eweman" to post dozens of critical comments, including a handful about Heebe, who is at the center of a sweeping federal probe. In a terse statement Thursday, Letten said Mann had admitted posting comments at NOLA.com, but did not say whether those comments were penned by "eweman."
In March, Heebe made similar claims of defamation about longtime federal prosecutor Sal Perricone, who savaged him repeatedly under the nom de plume "Henry L. Mencken1951." Perricone had been part of the prosecution team looking into the business dealings of Heebe's River Birch landfill. He admitted using the handle and resigned a week later.
A month later, Letten announced his office was recusing itself from the River Birch probe and several related inquiries. Those are now being overseen by a team of prosecutors from Washington, D.C.
Harper will likely receive a pay raise for assuming the additional duties. The Times-Picayune has requested the current and former salaries of both Mann and Harper, but Letten's office was not able to immediately provide those figures.
Source: http://www.nola.com/crime/index.ssf/2012/11/jim_letten_names_fred_harper_a.html
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