Charges reduced against Naperville North alum in fake repairman ruse

Federal authorities in Louisiana have filed reduced charges against a Naperville North High School alumnus and three other men accused of posing as telephone repairmen in order to gain access to a U.S. senator's office.

Stan Dai, 24, faces a misdemeanor charge of entering federal property under false pretenses, according to the U.S. attorney's office for the Eastern District of Louisiana. Dai, who was arrested on Jan. 25, had previously faced a felony charge. Dai graduated from Naperville North in 2003.

Charged with Dai are Joseph Basel, 24, Robert Flanagan, 24, and James O'Keefe, 25. All previously faced felony charges.

The U.S. attorney's office said the men concocted a plan where they would pose as telephone repairmen in order to talk to staff members of U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu and record the conversations. Landrieu is a Democrat and the four defendants are known as conservative activists.

O'Keefe has become known for posing as a pimp in order to record ACORN staffers via hidden camera. The footage of ACORN employees advising O'Keefe on how to get around the law created an uproar that since has led the grass-roots community organizing group to say it is closing down.

If convicted, Dai and the other defendants face maximum terms of six months in prison and fines of $5,000. The felony charges they originally faced could have landed each of them in prison for 10 years.