SWAT raid on home for defaulting on student loan

According to the story from Sacremento's KXTV News10 ABC, the Department of Education did issue the search warrant and authorized the SWAT team due to defaulted student loans held by Mr. Wright's estranged wife who no longer lived with him or their children.

According to the Department of Education's Office of the Inspector General, the case can't be discussed publicly until it is closed, but a spokesperson did confirm that the department did issue the search warrant at Wright's home.

The Office of the Inspector General has a law enforcement branch of federal agents that carry out search warrants and investigations.

Stockton Police Department said it was asked by federal agents to provide one officer and one patrol car just for a police presence when carrying out the search warrant.

Stockton police did not participate in breaking Wright's door, handcuffing him, or searching his home.

For student loans? Have we really solved all other crimes that involve SWAT? I can understand if she had other warrants on her but really? At least they got to use their new toys.

Gotta lower the deficit somehow

PAR

Edwin wrote:

For student loans? Have we really solved all other crimes that involve SWAT? I can understand if she had other warrants on her but really? At least they got to use their new toys.

Oddly coincidental that this pops up after I wrote and then deleted a rage filled paragraph about the current education / loan system in another thread.

I realize that college is pretty much the easiest way to vastly increase one's earning potential, but I would never go into debt for it in the current environment.

For profit colleges and weird laws exempting student loan debt from bakruptcy have made student loans potentially the most dangerous loans you can get; at least you can jettison most credit card debt through bankruptcy. Student loan debt is right on par with mafia debt -- you just face debtor's prison instead of broken knees.

edit: linking to image here because it's a big, fat infographic.

I really hope that Mr. Wright pointed at the SWAT team and shouted, "OBJECTION!"

Jeebus, this is why the Feds can get a bad name. These guys on this OIG swat team are all probably FBI wannabees who couldn't even make it into ATF. They're stuck serving warrants on debtors, but they treat it like they're sweeping a crack den.

(I know, this is a little off the cuff speculation with no details released about the raid, but what the hell- this is the internet!)

I was shocked when I read this! They can do that?? Send a SWAT team to your home, and stick you in a police car and tear your house apart over a student loan?? That is really frightening.

I remember getting a phone call over student loans here (I lived in Ontario then) and the loan officer was convinced I had defaulted on my loans - and he was stern, and there were promises of legal action, but he was still reasonably polite. It turned out there was another girl with the same first and last name as me who had defaulted on her loans, and the officer got our SIN numbers mixed up.

The loan officer apologized several times and we chatted for a few minutes quite amiably. If a SWAT team had come to my home over that simple error - I think I would have wet myself.

One would hope there's more behind the story than a simple default. Maybe she's a terrorist who defaulted on her loans? A serial killer who only kills student loan company execs?

Funkenpants wrote:

One would hope there's more behind the story than a simple default. Maybe she's a terrorist who defaulted on her loans? A serial killer who only kills student loan company execs?

Barring further revelations, this.

Wasn't there a wide-ranging attempt to modernize and improve the student loan situation recently that got stomped by the Republican House?

What's the over-under on time until we re-establish debtor prisons?

Tanglebones wrote:

Wasn't there a wide-ranging attempt to modernize and improve the student loan situation recently that got stomped by the Republican House?

It passed, but it didn't really protect students. I'll link the infographic if it's not too big.

No, it's too big. Just man up and click this link.

Seth wrote:
Tanglebones wrote:

Wasn't there a wide-ranging attempt to modernize and improve the student loan situation recently that got stomped by the Republican House?

It passed, but it didn't really protect students. I'll link the infographic if it's not too big.

No, it's too big. Just man up and click this link. :)

Dangit, Obama!

I saw this on another site with an article about the raid.

IMAGE(http://michellemalkin.cachefly.net/michellemalkin.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/DoE3.bmp)

Kraint wrote:

What's the over-under on time until we re-establish debtor prisons?

Only if we start with the bankers and investors that destroyed the economy and needed to be "bailed out".

Gotta think of the school cops' safety, guys. Since failure to repay loans is a violent crime on the level of assault or murder, they have to assume she's armed and dangerous. They have to use shock and awe to catch her by surprise. And wearing only boxers in the house of a known criminal? Definitely an arrestable offense. He's lucky they didn't taze and beat him.

[url wrote:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/0... Department of Education is disputing a local news report that it sent a S.W.A.T. team to knock down the door and search the house of an individual because he defaulted on student loans.

edit:

also the original story

has since been taken down and replaced with an updated version that did not contain the claim about the raid being connected to student loans.

It'll be interesting to watch where this all ends up.

Seth wrote:
Edwin wrote:

For student loans? Have we really solved all other crimes that involve SWAT? I can understand if she had other warrants on her but really? At least they got to use their new toys.

edit: linking to image here because it's a big, fat infographic.

Holy. sh*t.

Now I want to read that rage-filled paragraph. I mean, I knew when I first brushed up against a Wisconsin state system university that postsecondary education is a much more consumer-driven affair than in Canada, but this... *shakes head*

Here is the updated story since the original was taken down. http://www.news10.net/news/article/1...

Now I am even more curious what criminal act she was committing that warrants the DoE SWAT.

Edwin wrote:

Here is the updated story since the original was taken down. http://www.news10.net/news/article/1...

Now I am even more curious what criminal act she was committing that warrants the DoE SWAT.

Well, whatever it was, it wasn't failure to pay a student loan, because that would be just crazy, and we'd never send a SWAT team in for something like that.

How does the Department of Education even have a swat team?

BadKen wrote:
Edwin wrote:

Here is the updated story since the original was taken down. http://www.news10.net/news/article/1...

Now I am even more curious what criminal act she was committing that warrants the DoE SWAT.

Well, whatever it was, it wasn't failure to pay a student loan, because that would be just crazy, and we'd never send a SWAT team in for something like that.

How does the Department of Education even have a swat team?

Post-Columbine, maybe? Or a paranoid reaction to the possibility of student protests in the 60s?

I just graduated from Arizona State. I've been paying off my loans for the last two years (they didn't even give me the option to defer until after graduation) and it's costing me about $300 a month.

I expect SWAT anyday now.

Hmm, well we'll have to see what terrible crimes the estranged wife has committed now that they have denied the school loan angle. It's possible that they did warrant a SWAT(esque) team, but given the recent US law enforcement cases that have ranged from, er, "exuberant" to full-on brutality I'm guessing that it will still be something pretty trivial.

I think that a lot of the problem is that cities and other organizations have gotten themselves these paramilitary units, likely as "tough on crime" measures. They then have this section of budget that they need to justify, and since they don't have enough actual big crime to use these guys on, at least not consistently, they end up employing them against situations that don't merit the attention.

The Department of Education OIG has posted a short statement on the search warrant. Basically, it says that the OIG is not involved in collection of student debts, and it investigates fraud, embezzlement, bribery and other criminal activity in the Department.

So basically, it's bad reporting, not an abuse of power.

Edit - One consequence of the rise of relatively unregulated for-profit schools is that because they ask for the maximum loan for each student, the excess money is given back to the student each semester. A new fraud has come up, with students signing up for a semester, getting the loan minus the tuition, then walking with the excess cash. Sometimes they transfer to another school and do the same thing. The schools don't care - they don't have to demonstrate that the student is successful, and the government is the loser.

So this may be an investigation into loan fraud. The reports that there were a hundred names on the search warrant might back that up.

A swat team to take down someone committing education loan fraud? They must have been worried that she could be armed with the pen she used to sign the fraudulent loan applications. It sounds like they could have gotten access to the house just by asking him to step outside and wait. I worked in a law firm once that had the FBI execute a search warrant looking for some documents, and nobody ended up handcuffed in the back of a police car.

Funkenpants wrote:

I worked in a law firm once that had the FBI execute a search warrant looking for some documents, and nobody ended up handcuffed in the back of a police car.

Have you ever thought that you might have been doing it wrong?

I still can not comprehend how the Department of Education has a SWAT team. That makes no sense to me whatsoever. Frankly it's more than a little frightening. Not only that, but it's a perfect example of why this country can't balance its damn budget.

Yonder wrote:

Have you ever thought that you might have been doing it wrong?

The law firm was not pleased, but I guess some of the best paying clients can sometimes be a little shady.

BadKen wrote:

I still can not comprehend how the Department of Education has a SWAT team. That makes no sense to me whatsoever. Frankly it's more than a little frightening. Not only that, but it's a perfect example of why this country can't balance its damn budget.

"MOVE! WE KNOW YOU'VE BEEN READING Fahrenheit 451 AND Catcher in the Rye!"

I'm also seeing reports that it was not actually a SWAT team. FWIW.

Was space an issue?

And does it have to be SWAT? Could it be some other kind of squad of armed government police?

Speedhuntr wrote:

it's costing me about $300 a month.

I expect SWAT anyday now.

multiply by 3, and I wonder why they haven't raided my house already.

Is there no crime in the Department of Education purview that is capable of generating violence? No one might feel strongly enough about not being caught to attack unarmed investigators?

I find that hard to believe, across the entire country. Quick, name *another* instance where the Dept. of Education used armed force. Is it really common? Is it irresponsible? Now name another time recently where the press got something wrong. I can bet which one happens more often.