CLEVELAND (AP) — FBI and IRS agents served search warrants Monday at Cuyahoga County offices and homes as part of a public corruption investigation, authorities said.

About 200 FBI agents, some brought in from Pittsburgh to help with the searches, raided the county administration building, engineer’s office and an information services center.

“This stems from a long-term public corruption investigation,” FBI spokesman Scott Wilson said. “The warrants are sealed through the court and basically I cannot comment on anything that’s being searched or seized.”

Staffers at the county’s information services center said they were told they could go home because they wouldn’t be able to work. About 80 are employed at the center, which does computer work for various county agencies.

Wilson said no arrest warrants had been issued and county employees were cooperating with the investigation.

Agents entering the administration building searched the third and fourth floors, including Auditor Frank Russo’s office and Commissioner Jimmy Dimora’s office. Their homes also were searched.

FBI vehicles were spotted at Dimora’s suburban Independence home and at Russo’s home in Mayfield Village. Phone calls seeking comment from Dimora and Russo were not immediately returned.

Dimora is also chairman of the Cuyahoga County Democratic Party.

“Jimmy Dimora is my friend and colleague, and I fervently hope and pray that when all is said and done, this is a mere tempest in a teapot,” Commissioner Peter Lawson Jones said in a statement.

Prosecutor Bill Mason instructed employees to cooperate with investigators.

Agents also searched DAS Construction Co. in Garfield Heights. A phone calls seeking comment from company officials was not immediately returned.

 

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