INDReporter

ESPN: Saints' Loomis listened in on other teams?

by Leslie Turk

Just when we thought it could not get any worse for our beloved New Orleans Saints ...

Quoting anonymous sources, ESPN's Out of Bounds program is today reporting that Saints General Manager Mickey Loomis had an electronic device in his Superdome suite secretly re-wired so he could eavesdrop on visiting coaching staffs. The device was re-wired for three seasons, ESPN reports, from 2003-2005, but the network was unable to determine whether Loomis actually made use of the electronic setup.

If he did listen in, Loomis' action could be both a violation of NFL rules and potentially a federal crime, according to legal sources ESPN spoke with. Eastern District of Louisiana U.S. Attorney Jim Letten acknowledged to ESPN that he was told of the allegations Friday. ESPN reported that the FBI in New Orleans had also been briefed about Loomis' alleged activity.

Letten, however, would not confirm to The Times-Picayune whether he alerted the FBI and also said he was "not at liberty to say" who brought the allegations to him.

A spokesman for the NFL told the New Orleans newspaper the league was not aware of the allegations.

A Saints spokesman is denying the allegations, and analysts on ESPN were immediately skeptical.

The T-P further notes that the statute of limitations on any possible state or federal violations has passed.

Not that legal implications matter much if these allegations are true. It would take years for the Saints to recover from this, and the structure of top management at the organization would likely look quite different than it does today.

Read the ESPN story here.