911 call helps convict former Louisiana district attorney

Six years later that prosecutor has been called a sexual predator by authorities and faces a possible prison sentence.

Records released Thursday reveal that sheriff's deputies summoned an FBI agent after Danelle Keim called for help and reported the allegations about Harry Morel, who served as St. Charles Parish's elected district attorney for more than three decades.

Keim became the key witness for the FBI in its long-running investigation of Morel, who pleaded guilty Wednesday to obstructing a federal investigation of the sex abuse allegations.

[...] we will never know the full extent of it.

[...] prosecutors — facing a statute of limitations on the crimes, significant problems with evidence and victims who could prove to be difficult witnesses — chose not to charge Morel with any sexual crimes, Polite said.

Investigators said her cooperation with the FBI was instrumental in securing a guilty plea from Morel, who faces a maximum sentence of three years in prison.

A court filing Wednesday says Morel, 73, engaged in "inappropriate behavior" with Keim at her home after her arrest in St. Charles Parish on a drunken driving charge in March 2010.

Keim later recorded conversations with Morel for the FBI after he agreed to assist her with new theft and drunken driving charges, according to Wednesday's court filing.

In 2011, a boyfriend of Keim took photographs of meetings between her and Morel in a courthouse parking lot and at a satellite office for the district attorney's office.