Federal agents assisted in the raid of a network of Los Angeles charter schools Wednesday as part of an ongoing investigation into allegations of criminal activity.
The raid at the South Los Angeles offices of Celerity Educational Group at 2069 W. Slauson Ave. involved multiple agencies, Laura Eimiller of the FBI's Los Angeles field office told NBC4.
"We and our partners were seeking evidence based on allegations of criminal activity," Eimiller said. She added the search warrants are sealed by the court and declined to comment on the nature of the investigation.
The alleged criminal activity included fraud and fiscal mismanagement, the Los Angeles Times reported.
Celerity Educational Group manages seven schools in Southern California as well as some in Louisiana. The schools are publicly funded but privately operated and exempt from regulations that govern traditional schools.
Los Angeles Unified School District officials confirmed to The Times Wednesday that they had been alerted that the U.S. Attorney's Office in Los Angeles was going to oversee the serving of a search warrant on Celerity's offices.
Federal agents swarmed the organization's offices, collecting laptops and copying data from computers, an employee told The Times.
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NBC4 has reached out to officials at the school district, the U.S. Department of Justice, Homeland Security and Celerity.
