State police, FBI conduct probe of Saints' alleged wiretapping

A joint Louisiana State Police and FBI task force is investigating allegations the New Orleans Saints set up general manager Mickey Loomis' booth in the Superdome so he could listen in on opposing coaches. State police Col. Mike Edmonson confirmed the joint effort today after discussing the matter with Dave Welker, special agent in charge at the FBI's New Orleans field office. "I thought that was an excellent opportunity to share resources to see if federal or state wiretapping laws were in fact broken," Edmonson says. "It's important for the public to know these are allegations at this point. We will thoroughly, expeditiously, but fairly look into whether any laws have been broken. If they have, we'll sit down with the district attorney in that area to determine how to proceed." Loomis and the Saints have called the allegations "1,000 percent false" and have said they are reviewing legal recourse following an ESPN report Monday in which anonymous sources described a setup that would have allowed the general manager to eavesdrop on opponents from 2002 to 2004. ESPN could not verify the system was used. Still, the alleged actions would violate NFL rules, if not state and federal laws. Read the full story by The Associated Press here.