Listen to this article with a free account
Law enforcement officers search warrants served Wednesday morning in the home and office of Los Angeles Unified School District Superintendent Alberto Carvalho, authorities said.
The Justice Department confirmed searches were underway and video showed FBI agents at the superintendent’s home Wednesday morning. Officers at the scene refused to answer questions about the operation.
Police sources earlier told NBC4 Investigates that the searches took place at Carvalho’s office and his home in Saint Peter, a neighborhood located approximately 23 miles south of downtown Los Angeles.
Details about the search were not immediately available. It was not immediately clear whether anything was seized at the scene.
Carvalho did not immediately respond to requests for comment made Wednesday evening via email and phone call.
An affidavit filed in support of the searches was under seal, authorities said.
“We can confirm that the FBI is executing a court-authorized arrest warrant at these locations,” the FBI’s Los Angeles field office said in a statement. “However, the affidavit supporting the warrant has been sealed by the court and therefore we have no further comment.”
The LAUSD also confirmed there was “law enforcement activity” at its headquarters and Carvalho’s home. “The District is cooperating with the investigation,” a spokesperson said in a statement.
Video taken by NBC Los Angeles’ helicopter appeared to show officers driving away from the property and leaving the neighborhood in a Dodge Charger. Another group of officers remained in the area mid-morning, gathering across the street from Carvalho’s residence in the southern Los Angeles County beach community.
A neighbor estimated there were about 20 FBI agents outside the house at one point early Wednesday morning.
“I was with my wife. We were having our cup of coffee and we heard the sirens going off and then all of a sudden someone said, ‘Stay home,’ or whatever,” John Schafer said. “I saw at least five, six parked in front of my house and one house above.
“I saw one of them was in camouflage with a rifle pointed at the house. And, as he’s pointing at the house, I’m like, wow,” Schafer said. “I knew it was the superintendent, but they told us to stay in the house, so I stayed in my house.”
The officers, some carrying bags, declined to comment when asked about the operation.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office confirmed there were no arrests in the operation, which the agency said involved search warrants, not arrest warrants.
The search in Los Angeles County was linked to another in the South Florida community of Southwest Ranches, the FBI said.
“We searched a residence in Southwest Ranches today in connection with this case and have since cleared the scene,” the FBI Miami Field Office said.
Carvalho has been head of the nation’s second-largest school system for February 2022. He was unanimously reappointed by the school board last year.
NBCLA reached out to school board members for comment but did not immediately receive responses.
Before arriving in Los Angeles, Carvalho led Miami-Dade County Public Schools for 14 years. Born in Portugal, Carvalho previously taught physics, chemistry and calculus in Miami and later served as an assistant principal at Miami Jackson Senior High School.
He also has sharply criticized the Trump administration’s aggressive immigration crackdown and its impacts on students in his district.