The heads of two closely related private investigator firms and a former St. Tammany Parish District Attorney supervisor were indicted on federal charges last week in an illegal scheme to sell and buy criminals’ records.

Vicky Munn, 41, of New Orleans, was indicted for selling 48 criminal records to the firms for $7,380 between January 2003 and May 2004, according to the indictment information from United States Attorney Jim Letten.

Charles E. Barnett Jr., 47, a Covington resident who operated the investigative firm Barnett Group-Product Liability, and Todd Kelly, 39, of Traverse City, Mich., who operated The Barnett Group, a subsidiary, were indicted alongside Munn for conspiracy to exceed authorized access to a governmental computer. Kelly and Barnett are charged with buying the information from Munn. If convicted, each face a maximum five years in jail, three years’ probation and a $250,000 fine, Letten said.

Federal law prohibits anyone other than “legitimate law enforcement” officers from using the FBI-operated National Crime Information Center records, better known as NCIC, the database Munn allegedly tapped into, said Letten spokeswoman Kathy English.

“For example, I couldn’t use NCIC to investigate my son’s girlfriend,” English said. “It’s for legitimate law enforcement purposes only.”

Private investigator firms are not considered legitimate law enforcement personnel, but Munn, as a supervisor in the 22nd Judicial District Court’s worthless checks division, was privy to accessing NCIC accounts with Social Security numbers, bank statements, addresses and other private information. Munn, a long-time employee of the District Attorney’s office, was suspended May 21, 2004, when the FBI launched its investigation, Rick Wood, spokesman for District Attorney Walter Reed said. She was fired Sept. 17, he said.

Repeated calls to the Barnett Group at 200 Greenbrier Ave. in Covington were not answered.

The firm’s Web site said Barnett founded the firm in 1985, and shortly thereafter it became the largest investigative business in Louisiana, expanding to Nashville, Tenn., and Jackson, Miss.

Kelly, meanwhile, is the president of the Barnett Group of New Orleans.