U.S. prosecutor quits in La. scandal over web posts

A federal prosecutor has resigned from U.S. Attorney Jim Letten’s office after acknowledging he anonymously posted comments on The Times-Picayune‘s website about judges, politicians and cases on which he has worked. Letten’s office announced the resignation of Assistant U.S. Attorney Sal Perricone in a news release this afternoon. The resignation took effect Monday evening. Letten says an investigation into the posts by the Justice Department’s Office of Professional Responsibility will continue. Last week, Letten said Perricone admitted he had posted hundreds of comments at nola.com, the companion website of the New Orleans newspaper, under the username “Henry L. Mencken1951.” He was exposed after an attorney for a landfill owner who is under investigation—in a case Perricone was actively working on—sought a state court order to question Perricone under oath about the posts. The landowner, Fred Heebe, was a target of numerous negative comments by the anonymous poster. Other subjects of Perricone’s postings included New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu, New Orleans Police Superintendent Ronal Serpas, President Barack Obama and Letten, whom Perricone accused of sometimes taking credit for the work of others. The Times-Picayune is also reporting that another handle apparently used by Perricone, “campstblue,” regularly took aim at former Mayor Ray Nagin while he was in office. In June 2009, “campstblue” wrote: “For all of you who have a penchant for firearms and how they work, Ray Nagin lives on Park Island.” Read that story here.