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Agents seize city records

Republican, The (Springfield, MA) - September 29, 2005

Author/Byline: JACK FLYNN; BARRY, STAFF, The Republican (Springfield, MA)


Edition: ALL
Section: NEWS
Page: A01
Federal officials targeted dozens of construction contracts dating back to the Albano administration.
SPRINGFIELD - In their latest appearance at City Hall, federal agents seized records from dozens of contractors, architects and
consultants who worked on city building projects dating back to the early days of Mayor Michael J. Albano's administration.
Expanding the scope of their four-year corruption probe, FBI and IRS agents converged on the Purchasing Department yesterday
morning, seizing computer records from director Edward Corbin's fourth-floor office as well as paperwork for dozens of city construction
contracts.
The agents, who arrived at 8:30 a.m. and left around noon, were seeking records for projects between 1997 and the end of 2003,
according to City Solicitor Patrick J. Markey.
The agents were allowed to search the office without a warrant. The city's top purchasing officer, appointed by Albano in 1996, is
cooperating with the investigation, Markey said.
He added the city had no reason to suspect any wrongdoing.
"I don't know where this is headed; the only thing I know is we're going to continue to cooperate with investigators," Markey said.
The search offered the first public sign that the Purchasing Department has joined the list of agencies drawing scrutiny in the wideranging probe. Several city agencies, a non-profit loan fund and a taxpayer-financed charity for the homeless have been targeted in the
probe, along with several well-known public officials.
Former Police Commission Chairman Gerald A. Phillips and eight others have been convicted in corruption cases, and 14 others including former City Council Chairman Francis G. Keough III - are awaiting trial.
The first raid at City Hall took place Nov. 8, 2001, two days after Albano was re-elected to his fourth term. Records were taken from the
Community Development and auditor's office; since then, dozens of subpoenas for documents and grand jury testimony have been
served on city agencies as part of a probe into suspected influence peddling, tax evasion and other wrongdoing by current and former
public officials.
Yesterday, after spending the morning seizing records in the Purchasing Department, the federal agents continued their search at the
hangar-sized storage area on the second floor of the Tapley Street municipal office building named after Congressman Richard E. Neal.
Standing knee-deep in an island of boxes piled up on the concrete floor, Corbin said he had no idea what investigators were seeking.
"They haven't told me anything yet," he said. "All I know is that they've asked for records."
The second-floor warehouse provided one of the more surreal settings for a corruption probe largely played out at City Hall, federal
courtrooms and the offices of dozens of defense lawyers.
In addition to boxes with bids, contracts and invoices from city projects, the site is used to store hundreds of trash and recycling bins, a
jumble of bathroom fixtures and a smattering of Christmas lights and trees.
The silence in the warehouse was punctuated only by the scraping of boxes along the concrete floor and investigators speaking in low
tones. FBI Special Agent Clifford W. Hedges, among a handful of federal investigators sifting through the boxes, had no comment.
Agents left the warehouse mid-afternoon, Markey said, hauling away boxes full of dozens of contract files, e-mails, compliance reports
and other documents.
(COLOR) Federal agents look through files dating back to the Albano administration yesterday in the Tapley Street municipal office
building named after Congressman Richard E. Neal. The Springfield City Hall purchasing office was also searched.
Index terms: FEDERAL; INVESTIGATION; GOVERNMENT-LOCAL
Record: MERLIN_3457477
Copyright: Copyright, 2005, The Republican Company, Springfield, MA. All Rights Reserved. Used by NewsBank with Permission.

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