First Assistant U.S. Attorney Jan Mann demoted after admitting ...

Fred Heebe, left, and Jan Mann. (Photo by NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune archive)

"Jim Letten has done a fine job in so many ways, but this last situation is very troubling." U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La.

U.S. Attorney Jim Letten Thursday morning announced the demotion of his second-in-command, First Assistant U.S. Attorney Jan Mann. The news came six days after landfill magnate Fred Heebe alleged in a civil suit that Mann had repeatedly used an online alias to slam him and other federal probe targets in comments posted on NOLA.com. Mann's demotion marks the second high-profile takedown of a federal prosecutor engineered by Heebe, who in March unmasked Sal Perricone, the office's senior litigation counsel, as a prolific and intemperate online ranter.

The defamation suit Heebe filed Friday accused Mann of commenting under the name "eweman," a moniker that appeared inspired in part by the initials of former Gov. Edwin W. Edwards, a longtime nemesis of the U.S. attorney's office. The user of the alias went silent the minute Perricone was exposed in March, according to Heebe's suit.

Letten's statement confirmed Mann had posted at NOLA.com, though it does not explicitly say she was "eweman" -- leaving open the possibility that Mann used another name, and that "eweman" is the handle of yet another federal prosecutor.

The statement said that as of Monday night, Mann was no longer serving as Letten's first assistant, or in the capacity of chief of the office's criminal division. Mann has held both titles -- which is unusual -- throughout Letten's decade-plus at the helm of the office.

The matter has been referred to the Justice Department's Office of Professional Responsibility, Letten said. The same office has also been tasked with investigating the Perricone affair.

The terse statement concludes: "Because this matter is now under review by the Department of Justice in Washington, D.C., the release of any additional information by my office would not be appropriate."

Letten had held his tongue about Heebe's latest allegations since the suit's filing, saying he would do so at the appropriate time. On Monday, he told a reporter: "Do not construe my delay in making a public statement about this matter to be silence.

"As in all important matters like this, I am being deliberate and I am acting consistent with our internal protocols before making any statements to the public. As soon as the appropriate time arrives, I will make a statement on this."

Letten has not said whether he has determined the identity of "eweman." The posts authored under that name disparaged criminal defendants, attorneys and others.

In the wake of Heebe's lawsuit, Mann circulated a memo via email to all office employees in which she neither admitted nor denied the allegations, but apologized for the distraction the situation was causing. In it, she also underscored her intention to fight Heebe's claims and stay in her post, according to people familiar with the memo.

The embarrassment the Mann and Perricone scandals have caused the office -- which has generally enjoyed a stellar reputation -- will surely lead to more speculation about Letten's future. U.S. attorneys are appointed by the president. Letten, a Republican, is the longest-tenured U.S. Attorney in the nation, being one of only a handful of Republicans named by President George W. Bush that President Barack Obama decided to keep on.

Recently, but days before Heebe's newest allegation,?The Times-Picayune published a story in which observers said they expected Letten to stay on, regardless of who won Tuesday's election. He was always popular among Republicans, and U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu -- the state's ranking Democrat -- went to bat for Letten four years ago, a key pillar of support that allowed him to keep the job.

In an interview prior to the announcement of Mann's demotion, Sen. David Vitter, R-La. -- who has been a strong advocate for giving Letten another term as federal prosecutor -- called the new allegations by Heebe "very serious." He also said the "silence in the five days" since the allegations first surfaced from Letten's office is also "serious," and a "significant concern."

Still, Vitter said he needed to hear more from Letten's office on what happened before deciding whether to move away from his support of the federal prosecutor.

Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., also said said in an interview before Mann's demotion Wednesday that she was troubled by the allegations.

"Jim Letten has done a fine job in so many ways, but this last situation is very troubling." Landrieu said. As the state's lone Democratic senator, Landrieu is in a strong position to determine whether Letten's remains through her recommendation to Obama.

Staff writer Bruce Alpert contributed to this report.

Source: http://www.nola.com/crime/index.ssf/2012/11/first_assistant_us_attorney_ja.html

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