FBI Investigation of Leon County Schools Intensifies

The FBI investigation into Leon County Schools continues.
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In March, the FBI served a search-and-seizure warrant at the Leon County Schools’ Technology Information Services office as part of an ongoing investigation into theft and bribery related to federally-funded programs. As the Tallahassee Democrat reported earlier this month, the federal probe into the Florida school district continues to intensify.

Reports Tallahassee Democrat contributor Jeff Burlew, “When FBI agents showed up last month at Leon County Schools’ technology office with a search-and-seizure warrant, they did more than walk away with the district’s email archiving system,” adding that, “they signaled to the district and the community they had reached a crucial point in their investigation.”

The Leon County School district has been under FBI investigation for some time. A subpoena issued in October 2014 asked the district to provide thousands of pages of documents involving projects dating back to as early as 2007, purportedly. Now, with the recent issuance of the search-and-seizure warrant, it has become clearer than ever that the FBI believes a crime has been committed.

As Miami-based attorney and legal analyst Kendall Coffey points out, issuing a search-and-seizure warrant marks a pivotal moment in the investigation. Coffey recently commented on the investigation, explaining that, “While not every search-and-seizure warrant results in a criminal prosecution, in a very significant number of cases, a search-and-seizure warrant eventually culminates in a prosecution.” He also comments, “When FBI agents show up to execute a search warrant because probable cause has necessarily been found, there will be some people who are sleeping less at night,” alluding to the Leon County School district administration.

Jennifer Prior Brown, a former federal prosecutor in Miami, echoes Coffey’s analysis of the ongoing investigation. “They were able to convince a federal judge that there’s probable cause to believe that evidence of a crime will be found in the materials they sought to search,” she says of the FBI’s issuance of the search-and-seizure warrant. “You can’t have evidence of a crime without a crime.”

The search-and-seizure warrant authorized the FBI to take electronic records related to as many as 15 broad areas, including tax deductions, charity donations, and federal funds received by Leon County Schools.

Now, insiders predict that it’s only a matter of time before charges are filed against Leon County School district administration.