By Brian Hews
The massive raids by members of the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office into a dozen location of the Los Angeles County Assessor’s office literally left employees locked out and in some cases held in a basement location at the County Hall of Administration, Los Cerritos Community Newspaper can confirm.
During the raids led by members of the Public Integrity Unit, employees of the Assessor’s office tell LCCN that investigators carted off computers, boxes upon boxes of evidence at several areas across the sprawling county.
“It was like something out of a movie,” one assessor employee told LCCN on the condition of anonymity.
Source told LCCN that Assessor Appraiser Specialist Mark McNeil’s office was targeted and that investigators took several items from his office.
Jane Robison, spokesperson for the Los Angeles County District Attorney told LCCN that officers began serving the search warrants “early Wednesday morning.”
“We can confirm that warrants have been served at 12 different locations, including at the home of Assessor Noguez,” Robison said.
She would not elaborate on details about the raid other that “the investigation is still ongoing, and as of right now it is not going beyond search warrants.”
Los Cerritos Community Newspaper was the first news agency to first report on the current criminal investigation of Noguez back in its February 6 edition.
On Wednesday, several Southern California television news channels and news talk radio programs interviewed LCCN Publisher Brian Hews and Investigative Reporter Randy Economy about the details of this newspaper’s coverage.
“It has been a stunning day for Los Cerritos Community Newspaper,” Hews said in a statement. “Our phones have rung off the hook,” he said.
Great job on both interviews