The FBI and IRS searched both city hall and the home of a mayor in southern California last week as part of an investigation.

A spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s office said that Upland City Hall was one of several locations searched, in addition to the home of Upland Mayor John Pomierski.


The spokesman said he could not provide any further details on the reasons behind the raids, according to the Press-Enterprise.

“The search warrants have been sealed by a federal judge and, therefore, I am not able to discuss the scope or nature of the investigation,” the spokesman said.

The newspaper reported that City Hall, the police department, the San Bernardino County District Attorney spokeswoman and Pomierski all declined to comment last week.

Upland City Councilman Tom Thomas told The San Berardino Sun that the city and staff are not targets of an FBI investigation, the newspaper reported on Monday.

“I feel very, very confident that no one of our city staff has done anything inappropriate and if there are any other things when the time comes we will deal with those,” Thomas said.

From from The Sun:

City Hall was closed Thursday while agents collected records as part of a sealed Federal search warrant. Pomierski’s home was also searched and his cell phone was confiscated. Venture West Capital, a mortgage company at Victoria Gardens in Rancho Cucamonga, and JH Builders in Upland were also searched by agents Thursday.

A warrant for Pomierski’s cell phone directed agents to obtain e-mails, text messages and address lists as evidence of violations including conspiracy, extortion, bribery, fraud, money laundering and racketeering.

“What (the FBI) were pursuing didn’t involve the city as a target or a focus,” said City Attorney William Curley after the meeting. “We were just more of a resource that they were harvesting from and with the public records requests we give it to anybody anyway.”