So I guess the Department of Education has their own SWAT Teams now? They can issue their own search warrants and subpoenas?
The U.S. Department of Education issued the search and called in S.W.A.T for his wife’s defaulted student loans.
“They busted down my door for this,” Wright said. “It wasn’t even me.”
Wednesday morning, inspector general spokeswoman Gina Burress provided the following statement:
“The Office of Inspector General does not engage in the collection of student loans. Our mission is to conduct criminal investigations related to the programs and operations of the U.S. Department of Education, which include the student financial aid programs. We can confirm that we executed a search warrant at the residence, however our policy is not to discuss details of our on-going work.”
The U.S. Department of Education issued the search and called in S.W.A.T for his wife’s defaulted student loans.If you’re a recent law grad, be sure you’re making those loan payments on time. Also, don’t skip town on someone who has a bunch of kids living in their home. It’s probably rather traumatizing to a 3, 7, and 11 to be thrown in a police car at 6 a.m. Full story seems to have disappeared from the news website but some details available via Radley Balko.
Update: From Above the Law:
Via Reason (via Gawker), here’s a statement from DOE spokesperson Justin Hamilton:
Yesterday, the Department of Education’s Office of Inspector General executed a search warrant at a Stockton, Calif., residence with the presence of local law enforcement authorities.
While it was reported in local media that the search was related to a defaulted student loan, that is incorrect. This is related to a criminal investigation. The Inspector General’s Office does not execute search warrants for late loan payments.
Because this is an ongoing criminal investigation, we can’t comment on the specifics of the case. We can say that the OIG’s office conducts about 30-35 search warrants a year on issues such as bribery, fraud, and embezzlement of federal student aid funds.
All further questions on this issue should be directed to the Department of Education’s Inspector General’s Office.
