FBI list shows all items taken in raid at Palm Springs City Hall
A new puzzle piece is shedding light on the scandal surrounding the Palm Springs City Hall.
Last September, City Hall was shut down after FBI agents took over the building, taking city issued cellphones, documents and computer files.
The raid followed conflict of interest allegations against former Mayor Steve Pougnet about deals with developers.
KESQ obtained a list from the city of all the items the FBI seized from Palm Springs City Hall during that raid.
The FBI said it is common practice to leave behind a receipt of the items seized during serving of a warrant.
Many of the items were linked to developer Richard Meaney, who hired Pougnet as a consultant. There were also notations and documents seized, regarding Nexus development.
But for the first time officially the FBI is also looking into the city’s relationship with developer John Wessman.
Of the 32 items seized, more than seven have ties to Wessman and his company, Wessman Development.
Those include:
Emails from City Manager David Ready regarding Wessman A developer agreement and emails Five folders with miscellanous documents labled Wessman and Abbey. KESQ believesAbbey refers to Union Abbey, a company ran by fellow developer Richard Meaney
Files related to the Dakota project, a Wessman housing development project
Correspondence related to the downtown project
An agreement with Wessman holding
The FBI seized City Manager David Ready’s and Assistant City Manager Marcus Fuller’s laptops, and they took the City Public Information Officer Amy Blaisdell’s cellphone.
The FBI said they can not comment about the items seized or the investigation.
It’s important to note that just because items were taken does not mean any wrong doing has occurred, but that will be up to law enforcement to decide when and if it does.
Also, KESQ was unable to get a comment from the city about the list. Ready went on vacation and city attorney Doug Holland has not returned phone calls.
Meanwhile, the fair political practices commission said their investigation into the conflict of interest charge against Pougnet is still ongoing.
The full list of all the items taken can be seen here.
