GREENSBURG, Pa. — Agents with the Pennsylvania Attorney General's office seized computers from the Westmoreland County Sheriff's Office Friday when they raided the agency.
When agents arrived with a search warrant, the office was reportedly empty and the doors were locked.
Related: Westmoreland County Sheriff's Office under investigation
Sources told Channel 11 agents showed up Friday morning with a search warrant in hand to get computers, but they were delayed because the doors to those offices were locked.
Sheriff Jonathan Held and his command staff were reportedly not in the office when the agents came searching and the county had to call a locksmith to unlock the doors.
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Sources also told Channel 11 members of the command staff were there when agents showed up in the lobby of the courthouse, but left the building before the agents got downstairs.
"He wasn't even there. He was taking his children to the airport to go back to Florida (so) he wasn't even in the office today," said Ryan Tutera, Held's attorney.
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Agents took at least two computers that sources told Channel 11 belong to Held and Chief Deputy Patricia Fritz.
It's unclear what exactly is behind the warrant and if it has something to do with the ongoing public corruption case against Sheriff Held.
Agents raid Westmoreland County Sheriff's Office -- sources tell me they were after computers and had trouble getting in because doors were locked and the sheriff & command staff were gone -->https://t.co/meHA2hsCMy
— Melanie Marsalko (@WPXIMelanie) March 23, 2018
"It's curious. If these computers were integral in their investigation why didn't they take the computers months ago? It's quite curious," Tutera said.
"Westmoreland County is complying with the attorney general's search warrant and requests during their investigation of the sheriff," Gina Cerilli, the chairperson for the Westmoreland County Board of Commissioners, said in a statement.
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A spokesperson for the attorney general's office acknowledged a search warrant was executed Friday morning. "Our investigation related to Sheriff Jonathan Held is ongoing," the spokesperson said.
Cox Media Group