The FBI raided several offices in the El Paso County Courthouse today, along with the residences of a County Commissioner and a Thomason Hospital board member.
According to the FBI, search warrants were executed at five locations. The offices of County Judge Anthony Cobos and County Commissioners Luis Sarinana and Miguel Teran were included in the warrants. Agents also raided Teran’s home and the home of Thomason Hospital Board of Directors member Arturo Duran.
As the El Paso Times reported, all email within the courthouse was shutdown by the FBI while the search warrants were executed.
Items targeted in the raid remain unknown as the search warrants are sealed.
Cobos, speaking in the lobby outside his sealed office, stated he hopes there was no political motive behind the search. Sarinana also echoed such sentiments.
County Commissioner Veronica Escobar, who was not a target of the investigation, said that she doubted there could be any political motivation for a federal agency to search county offices. "I don't know how they can allege that the FBI can be controlled by local political players," she said. "It seems a little far-fetched."
FBI Assistant Special Agent-in-Charge Tim Kinard said the investigation is centered around former employees of NCED, the National Center for Employment of the Disabled.
NCED offices were searched by the FBI last year. There, too, agents removed truck-loads of boxes containing files, documents, and computer equipment.
The investigation remains ongoing.
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