FBI agents carried out search warrants early Thursday at the home of Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao and the home of an employee of a city waste contractor.
The FBI confirmed the two search warrants, but declined to say who the targets of the search warrants were and whether they were connected.
Thao and his office did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The first search took place at the mayor's home on Maiden Lane in the Lincoln Highlands neighborhood, and also included officials from the Internal Revenue Service and the United States Postal Service. Neither agency could immediately be reached for comment.
Video from local news agencies showed officers carrying boxes and bags out of the home.
Thao's two-story tan house sits on a quaint street near the Oakland Hills. Outside the mayor's house, a sign reading “joy” was leaning against the hedges, and the family's trash cans were still at the curb.
Greg Linden, one of Thao's neighbors who lives a few houses down the street, said news of the raid spread quickly through the neighborhood.
Linden did not personally see this morning's raid, but learned the news when a neighbor called him.
“There's a lot more commotion than we normally would have” in the neighborhood, he said. “It's a pretty quiet street.”
“Obviously something big is happening,” he said.
The second search warrant was carried out three miles from the mayor's home. The FBI said agents searched a home on View Crest Court in Oakland Hills.
Property records show the latter home is connected to Andy Duong, one of the members of the Duong family that owns and manages Cal Waste Solutions, who has been investigated for campaign contributions to Thao and other city elected officials, he reported. Oaklandside in 2020.
FBI agents were still going in and out of the house Thursday afternoon, and at one point searched the trunk and interior of a white Mercedes sedan that was parked in the driveway of the two-story blue house.
Duong could not be reached for comment.
Searches are conducted when Thao and Alameda County District. Lawyer. Pamela Price faces a recall election in November amid growing voter frustration over crime and budget issues that have challenged city leaders.
Thao became the first Hmong person elected to office in a major U.S. city in the fall of 2018, when he won a seat on the City Council, representing residents of the 4th District, which includes neighborhoods such as Montclair, Laurel and Melrose.
Four years later she was elected mayor, inheriting a troubled city still recovering from a pandemic and experiencing a significant increase in nearly every crime category, including armed robberies and property and retail robberies.
The violence has led several high-profile businesses in recent months to close locations in Oakland, including In-N-Out Burger and Denny's, citing safety risks to employees and customers.
The group Oakland United to Recall Sheng Thao, led by a former Alameda County Superior Court judge whom Thao removed from the city's Police Commission in June, has blamed the mayor for the rise in crime. She has been criticized for not declaring a state of emergency against crime and for taking a year to replace a police chief she fired. Thao also came under intense scrutiny for missing an application deadline last year when Gov. Gavin Newsom's office offered more than $267 million to cities and counties to fight retail theft.
In February, Newsom sent 120 CHP officers to Oakland as part of a new statewide law enforcement campaign to address violent crime, an operation that has helped recover more than 880 stolen vehicles and 47 firearms “linked to the crime.” ”, and has led to more than 400 arrests.
“As crime rates in California decline, even across the San Francisco Bay, Oakland is seeing the opposite trend,” Newsom said when announcing the operation. “What is happening in and around this beautiful city is alarming and unacceptable.”
Efforts to combat crime appear to be working. Recent reports from the Oakland Police Department show a 33% reduction in crime in 2024, compared to the same period last year.
Times staff writer Karen Garcia contributed to this report.
