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Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Federal agents raid East St. Louis City Hall; seize liquor fee documents |
EAST ST. LOUIS -- Federal agents Thursday raided the mayor's offices at City Hall, seeking information on liquor license fees.
City Manager Robert Betts said agents from the Internal Revenue Service were among those conducting the raid and were seeking documents relating to irregularities with liquor license fees.
Mayor Alvin Parks was out of town on a business trip when the raid began, and he returned to the city Thursday evening.
Federal agents exit East St. Louis City Hall on Thursday after removing several boxes of materials during a raid of the East St. Louis mayor's offices. -
"We, in the city of East St. Louis, are in full support and cooperation with any investigation that is taking place," Parks said.
He said the records examined include some that were filed before he took office.
Parks said he was not totally surprised by the raid, but he did not expect it.
At 11:20 a.m. Thursday, a woman who would identify herself only as a federal agent answered the door of the mayor's office and said it was off limits because federal agents were inside executing a search warrant.
At 3:10 p.m. Thursday, three agent came out of the mayor's office and City Hall pushing a flatbed cart loaded with four black boxes, a yellow one and a small box. Another group of three agents came out with 18 cardboard boxes, a plastic file box and a briefcase.
FBI Supervisory Special Agent Marshall Stone said: "We have some ongoing investigations in East St. Louis. We were there today gathering information that we believe will be pertinent to investigations already under way."
He said he could not comment further because the investigations were ongoing.
Betts referred additional comment to the office of A. Courtney Cox, U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Illinois.
First Assistant U.S. Attorney Randy Massey said he could neither confirm nor deny anything related to an investigation. |
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News-Democrat |
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