FBI Raids Home, Office Of LA City Councilman Jose Huizar
DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) – FBI agents raided the home and office of longtime Los Angeles City Councilman Jose Huizar Wednesday morning, just one day after the midterm elections.
FBI agents and K9s could be seen coming in and of both Huizar's fourth-floor office in City Hall and his home in the 600 block of Brittania Street in Boyle Heights.
The FBI said it was executing several search warrants around L.A. County, but would not elaborate on the nature of its investigation, citing that the warrant had been sealed.
"We'll be here at City Hall as long as it takes to obtain the evidence that we seek to obtain via the search warrant," Dave Nanz, assistant special agent in charge of the FBI's Los Angeles field office, told reporters early Wednesday afternoon at City Hall.
Nanz also added that no arrests were immediately planned.
"The FBI is not making any arrests this morning related to the search warrant," Nanz said.
Huizar represents District 13, which is mostly made up by the Boyle Heights area.
"We're trying to assess the situation and have no further comment at this time," said Stephen Kaufman, Huizar's attorney, in an email.
Huizar has faced several legal issues since taking office in 2005. In 2012, he was involved in a traffic accident in which he rear-ended another vehicle. The city was forced to pay up to $185,000 as part of a settlement.
In 2014, the city settled a sexual harassment lawsuit filed by a former staff member.
Huizar was named in two new lawsuits filed in October by two former employees who accused him of doctoring his schedule to hide certain meetings from the media, along with other ethics violations, including that his staff was pressured to work during city time on the campaign of his wife, Richelle Huizar, who is running in the 2020 election to succeed Huizar in the 14th District.
Huizar is prevented from running again due to term limits when his current term expires in 2020.
(© Copyright 2018 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. City News Service contributed to this report.)
