Dept of Education uses SWAT to collect student loan

[Bo]

STOCKTON, CA - Kenneth Wright does not have a criminal record and he had no reason to believe a S.W.A.T team would be breaking down his door at 6 a.m. on Tuesday.

"I look out of my window and I see 15 police officers," Wright said.

Wright came downstairs in his boxer shorts as a S.W.A.T team barged through his front door. Wright said an officer grabbed him by the neck and led him outside on his front lawn.

"He had his knee on my back and I had no idea why they were there," Wright said.


http://www.news10.net/news/article/141072/2/Dept-of-Education-breaks-down-Stockton-mans-door


WTF IS GOING ON!

[somone]

1. It's time for our U.S. Department of Education to unleash their own special forces

on the poor and unemployed students :sarcasm:

[madrchsod]

2. maybe this is the new way they are doing collections...

my wife owes around 7 thousand...i guess we`d better get ready for the dept of education`s storm troopers

[FiveGoodMen]

3. What the hell has happened to America?

[Le Taz Hot]

4. As of April 2011

Stockton's unemployment rate was 17.3%.

[myrna minx]

5. Wow - welcome to our Prison Nation where citizens are assumed to be and thusly treated as

if we're criminals until proven otherwise.

[notesdev]

6. Costs them more to pull this off than they could possibly recover

A single SWAT team action probably costs a minimum of $250,000 all-in.

This can be for one purpose and one purpose only - to intimidate the citizenry.

Government is now the enforcer to the debt slavers to a brand new degree.

[Generic Other]

7. Smells like a police state to me

Sick.

[notesdev]

9. Call it what it is - terrorism

The average person in the U.S. has FAR more reason to fear arbitrary action by our own government than an attack by foreigners.

[piratefish08]

8. Sweet! It's about time for a War on College Debt!!

if this works as well as the War on Drugs and the War on Terror, we're headed for a FUCKING UTOPIA!

[Dreamer Tatum]

10. It's a shame Bush isn't POTUS

I miss the "WELCOME TO AMERIKKKA" posts. Since our guy is running the show, however...

[tekisui]

31. So true.

[QC]

11. Can we use the words "police state" yet? n/t

[NightWatcher]

12. Shit! Quick somebody lend me two grand. Hurry, hurry, I hear a copter

[krabigirl]

13. This country is going full-blown fascist.

[CabalPowered]

14. This wasn't a collection of debt

I'm not defending the warrant but it says right in the article that this was a criminal investigation. I would suspect that there's some student loan fraud involved.

[madfloridian]

15. I hope you are not defending the use of SWAT for this...

even if it is a criminal investigation of student fraud.

There is no defense for this.

[CabalPowered]

18. Again, I'm not defending the SWAT or the warrant

But this discussion and the LBN discussion make it sound like this was someone who was just late on a couple of payments.

[madfloridian]

20. Is there a new level for using SWAT teams? This does not seem....

like a dire or dangerous situation at all.

[CabalPowered]

22. Of course not

But I think the fact that DoEd elected to go with SWAT tells us that this person did commit a serious crime. I'm only guessing here but it's possible that she may have used another identity or maybe even multiple identities. It's really not that uncommon..

http://www.walletpop.com/2010/06/01/student-loan-scams-flourish/

[BuelahWitch]

33. Most of those scams look like they involve institutions, not individuals

Except for the one using someone else's SSN. The damn "for profit" colleges are the biggest scams around, but you don't see them getting investigated.

[madfloridian]

36. There's a hearing on them right now....but Arne skipped it and so did Republicans.

http://campusprogress.org/articles/why_did_senator_enzi_lead_a_boycott_of_hearing_on_for-profit_colleges/

Arne's bad back is keeping him down all summer.

[CabalPowered]

37. Agreed on the "for profit" racket

The SSN/studen loan fraud scheme has been running for awhile. I just grabbed the first quality link. And again, that's only my guess. Does it justify sending in the swat? No. If the person has a history of violent crimes? Yes IMO.

[Name removed]

38. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Solomon]

21. There's always more to every story. Everybody knows this but

it never stops people from jumping to conclusions immediately.

[krabigirl]

44. Um, some investigation that was. Wouldn't they know the wife didn't live there?

Why the eff does the dept of Ed need a SWAT team??

[madfloridian]

16. The link died....doing a search for another.

[ScreamingMeemie]

17. Here you go...Apparently it was his ex-wife's loan.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2001010/SWAT-team-launch-dawn-raid-family-home-collect-womans-unpaid-student-loans.html?ito=feeds-newsxml

[madfloridian]

19. Also found the article and video at this link....

http://hypervocal.com/news/2011/dept-of-education-sends-s-w-a-t-for-defaulted-student-loans-target-isnt-wright/

Wonder why the other site took it down? Did they move the story or what. Seems legit.

I wonder if it has to do with the defaulting on private college loans...there are hearings going on on them right now with Republicans boycotting the hearings and Arne not going either.

And if it was not the police SWAT team, then who was it? Federal?

It is a very disturbing story.

[BuelahWitch]

24. Department of Education wanted her, so it sounds like Stafford Loan

not private. That's what makes it even worse...

[Robb]

25. DOE Inspector General investigates major fraud and stolen property.

I suspect this is not a mere unpaid loan. Doesn't pass the smell test otherwise.

[Robb]

28. Oh, look, I was right.

"You'd think I'd grow weary of constantly being proven correct; on the contrary, I find it invigorating."

...A U.S. government official http://www.news10.net/news/article/141108/2/Questions-surround-feds-raid-of-Stockton-home">confirmed for News10 Wednesday morning federal agents with the Office of the Inspector General (OIG), not local S.W.A.T., served the search warrant. The official would not say specifically why the raid took place. He did say the search was not related to student loans in default.

He went on to say OIG is a semi-independent branch of the U.S. Department of Education that executes warrants for criminal offenses such as student aid fraud and embezzlement of federal aid.

[BuelahWitch]

29. But still, SWAT for student aid fraud? Jesus Christ!

[Robb]

30. Read it carefully: not SWAT.

Probably just federal agents moving quickly. Also no indication this is related to simple student aid fraud, either.

[tekisui]

32. 15 police officers?

May not be SWAT in name, but why 15?

[Robb]

34. How many would you prefer?

[frylock]

39. completely inexcusable, nonetheless..

this person wasn't an armed and dangerous fugitive. if this guy had defended his home he'd be a dead man over a fucking student loan. fuck this shit.

[Robb]

41. When you say "fuck this shit," you must mean "reading the article."

I believe it's quite explicitly stated the raid was not in regard to an unpaid student loan.

[frylock]

42. OIG is a semi-independent branch of the education department..

that executes warrants for criminal offenses such as student aid fraud, embezzlement of federal aid and bribery, according to Hamilton.

so explain to me which of these offenses is so egregious as to require a tactical team? i stand by my statement.

[Robb]

46. Good for you! Stick to your guns.

[frylock]

47. thanks for playing!

enjoy your years supply of rice-a-roni.

[hifiguy]

23. This is beyond sick

How can this be legal?

[maxsolomon]

26. the militarized police have to practice

on somebody. :(

[City Lights]

27. There's a whiff of fascism in the air.

:scared:

[Ichingcarpenter]

35. I have student-loan defaulters in my family, one generation removed

have student-loan defaulters in my family, one generation removed -- so, my parents's generation -- but the principal individual is white, lives & votes Republican in Waukesha County, & is old enough not to have Paul Ryan abscond with her Medicare, so she's alright.

[jimmyflint]

40. Nothing to see here

Move along,just your government looking out for you. Move along!

[tblue37]

43. His THREE CHILDREN were also terrorized during this incident.

AND it had nothing to do with him at all--it was his e-wife who owed the money.

This is scary outrgeous.

I wonder whether the fact that the man and his ex are African-American has anything to do with the excessive use of force.

[krabigirl]

45. Very scary. I am surprised cps didn't take the kids..only half kidding here.

[ManiacJoe]

48. PDF version of the search warrant:

http://www.news10.net/news/pdf/Ed-dept-Wright-warrant-060711.pdf