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Lafayette, La. • A court filing accuses a south Louisiana sheriff of making anti-Semitic threats that were apparently directed at one of the federal prosecutors assigned to the civil rights case against him.
Prosecutors said in Wednesday's court filing that an "unsolicited informant" recently provided them with a series of recorded conversations between Iberia Parish Sheriff Louis Ackal and others. A transcript of one conversation includes Ackal recounting a meeting with a prosecutor in which the sheriff says he threatened to shoot the prosecutor between his "Jewish eyes" and makes other derogatory remarks.
Prosecutors say they believe Ackal made those taped remarks March 14, less than a week after his indictment on charges over the alleged beatings of five jail inmates.
Prosecutors say Ackal's remarks are grounds for tightening his pre-trial release conditions.