Palm Springs City Hall raided with search warrant

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The F.B.I. and agents from the Riverside District Attorney’s office raided the Palm Springs City Hall with a search warrant, sending employees home for the day. About a dozen agents went through the building and emerged with evidence for a corruption probe.

The warrants are sealed, according to Laura Eimiller, a spokesperson with the F.B.I., so we won’t know the reasons for the raid for a while. What is known is that several local agencies and the F.B.I. are in an investigation for an Inland Empire corruption task force.

Douglas Holland, Palm Springs City Attorney, said the staff was cooperating with the agents, but said he didn’t know why city hall was being raided.

In May Palm Springs Mayor Steve Pougnet lambasted the local newspaper, The Desert Sun, for their coverage of the city’s redevelopment plans, claiming the paper misrepresented facts. People have questioned the mayor’s ties to various redevelopment firms that are doing business in the area. You can find the mayor’s comments in a video posted on the newspaper’s website.

There’s more than just the Coachella music festival going on in the desert.