Department Of Education: Raid Of California Man's Home Was Not Related To Defaulted Student Loans

WASHINGTON -- The Department of Education is disputing a local news report that it sent a S.W.A.T. team to knock down the door and search the house of an individual because he defaulted on student loans.

Stockton, Calif. resident Kenneth Wright told the local ABC affiliate that on Tuesday, approximately 15 officers stormed into his home at 6 a.m., placed him in handcuffs and kept him in a squad car for nearly six hours while his three young children remained inside the house.

Wright said one of the individuals grabbed him by the neck and led him outside to his front lawn.

"He had his knee on my back and I had no idea why they were there," Wright said.

The initial report said the U.S. Department of Education "issued the search and called in the S.W.A.T for his wife's defaulted student loans," although that story has since been taken down and replaced with an updated version that did not contain the claim about the raid being connected to student loans.

Department of Education Press Secretary Justin Hamilton confirmed to The Huffington Post that the agency's Office of the Inspector General (OIG) did indeed order the action, although he said it was not about an issue over student loans in default.

"While it was reported in local media that the search was related to a defaulted student loan, that is incorrect," Hamilton said. "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."

Wright said all he wants is an "apology for me and my kids and for them to get me a new door."

Comments

[thereisonlyoneparty]

11:36 PM on 06/11/2011

Of course it was not.

I figured this right away.  Defaulting on any debt is not a crime (except taxes maybe I am not sure about that one).

The government can deal with defaulted loans.  They are cannot be discharged ever so it is not like the people can avoid them (unless they are creative fellows who leave the US and stop filing tax returns.)

[Kathleen Boman]

11:01 AM on 07/14/2011

I googled this matter, as it seemed extremely far-fetched to me as well....however, it is sad and scary , but true, it turns out:

http://www.news10.net/news/article/141108/2/Questions-surround-feds-raid-of-Stockton-home

The link to the search warrant shows a document identical to the one provided by several independent sources. Scroll down to page 4 and you'll see that items A through D that the team was sent in to retrieve can be related to nothing else ...I don't understand how the D. of E. can think they can deny this, when the warrant is so publicly accessible and easily researched by anyone concerned at all about the way the government is trying to over-reach it's boundaries, even as the bigwigs complain that we should have smaller government.

I'm also surprised that a HuffPost article wasn't better researched before it defended this heinous act of tyranny, but maybe this author is new or something....but this raid DID happen, and it DID happen over suspected financial aid fraud.

[Sue Runyon]

12:35 AM on 08/07/2011

Suspected financial aid fraud isn't equivalent to defaults on student loans.

How do you NOT know the difference between those two things? I swear....

It is NOT true. Almost nothing that the husband told the local news about this event turns out to be true. There was no SWAT team - there was simply sufficient personnel to complete the search warrant, and they protected themselves the same way any law enforcement people do when executing a search warrant. They knocked, and waited for him to open the door as they demanded with a lawful order. He didn't do it within the prescribed time. The courts, out to protect the little guy from an intrusive gov't, have said that the behavior that the DoEd guys demonstrated is legal and allowable! No "raid" happened. A lawful serving of a search warrant happened.

[Berettasskeeter]

01:16 PM on 06/10/2011

And there are a tremendous number of people who trust the Federal government to run their health care lives well, and with no prejudice! Imagine that!
Semper fi

[stuoverit]

01:36 PM on 06/10/2011

You should read "The Healing of America" and then try to come back with that bunk nonsense.

[Berettasskeeter]

01:51 PM on 06/10/2011

Really? The fed does this sort of thing all the time, and you wish to let them interfere, in any manner, in your life??! Good luck with that. I'll continue to vote for anti-HCR politicians.
Semper fi

[Justin Ferguson]

07:13 PM on 06/29/2011

I hate this argument, it's essentially stating that the politicians we have are incompetent and not to be trusted to run a health insurance racket, which immediately leaves me with two questions.

1. If they're not competent to run something like health insurance, why are they competent to operate on far more complex subjects like war, international relations, inter-state commerce, et cetera?

2. Why are we okay with incompetent people for elected officials?

I mean, it really seems to be more an argument relating to the people themselves, than the idea in its base. That said, directly addressing your statement-- yeah there are states in the union where I trust the federal government over the local crooks running things, and of course there are states where the inverse is true

[hagagaga]

12:17 AM on 06/10/2011

And why does the DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION have the authority to do this?

[gmb007]

09:38 PM on 06/09/2011

According to Wright’s attorney, the three children were marched at gunpoint and handcuffed!

What kind of a threat are young children?!!!

These SWAT members are not heroes - they’re blatant, jackbooted thugs, who opening displayed their power against powerless, defenseless kids.

What kind of a man - in body armor, helmet and brandishing a semi-automatic gun - does that? Where’s the #### ing common sense? These ### holes have scarred these poor kids for life.

Barring immediate threat to life, SWAT should be legally BARRED from raiding any home with children. In this 21st century age of instant data and high-tech surveillance, there’s simply NO excuse for putting young, innocent lives on the line, not to mention the severe trauma of PTSD.

Every man on that team should hang his head in shame. Heroes don’t do such cowardly things.

[GivingUp]

08:23 PM on 06/09/2011

Just another example of the US government practicing terrorism on its own citizens. I'm sure this story will get quietly pushed aside and forgotten. The point of the story is to instill fear into the population.

[Nick Gottuso]

06:02 PM on 06/09/2011

The SWAT Team photo attached to this article is of a regional SWAT Team in the SF Bay Area. This team has never served any warrants or responded to any activations anywhere near the jurisdiction where this event took place. It is not helpful for the reputation of the Huffington Post to erroneously portray the wrong SWAT Team and put it forth as accurate news reporting. Posting a correction notice would be the least you could do.

[gmb007]

05:41 PM on 06/09/2011

SWAT: We have to _kill_ you to protect you.

Oops, sorry, wrong house!

[gmb007]

05:02 PM on 06/09/2011

Holy crap, this gets worse the more I read.

Even the three kids were marched at gunpoint and handcuffed!

Direct from Mr. Wright’s attorney, Mark Reichel HuffPost:

“I am the attorney for Mr. Wright of Stockton. Mr. Wright, who is legally divorced from Mrs. Wright, and his 3 young children were home when at just before 6 a.m. 15--yes 15--armed federal SWAT team members kicked their door down, grabbed Mr. Wright by the neck and led his almost naked body (he had a pair of boxers on) out onto the grass and held a knee on his neck for 45 minutes. The children were then marched with their hands up at gun point outside to be handcuffed in a patrol car. The family stayed like this for 6 hours.

The federal SWAT members were indeed looking for Mrs. Wright, suspected of a student loan crime. She was not there, and does not formally live there. During their 6 hour search of this small house, the Wrights were not shown the warrant nor told what the purpose of the the search was, except for "where is she, where's your wife."

[...]

Mark Reichel
www.reichelplesser.com”

[dagmaclugh39]

07:42 PM on 06/09/2011

I suppose Mr. Wright can give thanks he and his kids weren't shot and/or killed. Since when did defaulting on a student loan require such an extraordinary response? Did Mr. Wright have a history of committing violent crimes? Or did authorities even bother to check this, and the fact that there would be three young children in Mr. Wright's house before they stripped the glove off their mailed fist?

[gmb007]

08:42 PM on 06/09/2011

Exactly, Dag. Well said.

How sad is it that we're even discussing how thankful we are that an innocent family was not shot by SWAT?

And those poor kids? Absent an immediate threat of loss of life, SWAT should be legally barred from raiding any house that they haven't confirmed the absence of children. There's simply no good excuse to put young lives on the line. It's truly despicable.

[Patriot86]

04:12 PM on 06/09/2011

Actually this is bout student loans...so now the government sends in swat teams for student loan defaults reallly?

[thereisonlyoneparty]

11:53 PM on 06/11/2011

Not about default.

It is most likely about people who are using invalid information to obtain student loans or obtained student loans in the name of someone else.

The easy access to student loans makes the fraud rather easy.  It is a decent scam if you are able to get away with it.

[Patriot86]

04:08 PM on 06/09/2011

It was the department of education and I just bet they are reviewing loan documents of those who can't or won't pay looking for reason to go after them...they filled out information incorrectly or whatever...the police state.

[Patriot86]

04:07 PM on 06/09/2011

update

OIG is a semi-independent branch of the education department that executes warrants for criminal offenses such as student aid fraud, embezzlement of federal aid and bribery, according to Hamilton. The agency serves 30 to 35 search warrants a year.

"They busted down my door for this," Wright said. "It wasn't even me."

The Stockton Police Department said it was asked by federal agents to provide one officer and one patrol car just for a police presence when carrying out the search warrant.

Police officers did not participate in breaking Wright's door, handcuffing him, or searching his home.

"All I want is an apology for me and my kids and for them to get me a new door," Wright said.

[gmb007]

04:03 PM on 06/09/2011

It’s not the terrorists I’m scared of - it’s SWAT.

If we’re not part of the Top 2% (when was the last time you heard of a SWAT raid in Beverly Hills?), ANY one of us could be the next victim, if only because they get the wrong address, which happens way too often.

It’s hard to take comfort and truly trust any regular cops when they’ve got that kind of massive, paramilitary force and firepower behind them.

Where before it was shoot only as a last resort - it’s now shoot first, ask questions later (if anyone survives). That does not inspire confidence or a feeling of safety in the citizenry - which is probably the whole point. Yes, I'm rather cynical, why do you ask?

SWAT's mantra appears to be: I guarantee I'm going home at the end of the day and if you don't piss me off/protest/resist, you might, too.

I’ll take a wild guess and say I stand a far greater chance of being killed by SWAT than any terrorist (foreign, domestic, Muslim, Christian, etc).

Oh, and btw, given their philosophy, standard operating procedures and history, SWAT qualifies as a terrorist organization.

[gmb007]

03:17 PM on 06/09/2011

Considering its history and increasingly grave, fatal abuses, it’s no accident that SWAT’s original name was "Special Weapons Assault Team".

Not hard to figure out why it was changed to the more benign - but no less intrusive and deadly - “Special Weapons and Tactics”.

[gmb007]

03:14 PM on 06/09/2011

Did this unarmed man and his three kids warrant SWAT?

What, exactly, was the "high risk" (alleged fraud?) that regular police couldn't handle?

The only reason for this raid was pure intimidation - a warning example to all.

"A SWAT (special weapons and tactics)[1][2] team is an elite tactical unit in various national law enforcement departments. They are trained to perform high-risk operations that fall outside of the abilities of regular officers.

SWAT team members' duties include: performing hostage rescues and counter-terrorism operations; serving high risk arrest and search warrants; subduing barricaded suspects; and engaging heavily-armed criminals.

SWAT teams are often equipped with specialized firearms including submachine guns, assault rifles, breaching shotguns, riot control agents, stun grenades, and sniper rifles. They have specialized equipment including heavy body armor, ballistic shields, entry tools, armored vehicles, advanced night vision optics, and motion detectors for covertly determining the positions of hostages or hostage takers inside enclosed structures."
(Wikipedia)

[fem56]

03:02 PM on 06/09/2011

It is pretty clear from the article that the guy is a crook. This is not just a matter of late student loan payment or even trying to default on student loans. If he was so concerned about his door and his children why didn't he just cooperate. I don't understand why everyone has so much sympathy for him.

[AndyWright68]

03:13 PM on 06/09/2011

I don't understand why so many people feel that everyone should just bow down and "cooperate" with tyranny. No one should have the right to use violence or intimidation or coercion or extortion on peaceful people like this out-of-control government has.

[Patriot86]

04:13 PM on 06/09/2011

The guy is not a crook ...they were looking for his ex-wife because of student loans I googled inform yourself.