Dozens Of FBI Agents Raid Ramapo Town Hall, Seize Records, Hard Drives

"The only thing they didn't do [yet] is walk [Christopher St. Lawrence and other town leaders] out with [hand]cuffs [on]. I've been waiting for this for 10 years. Maybe there is a God."

Dozens Of FBI Agents Raid Ramapo Town Hall, Seize Records, Hard Drives
Shmarya Rosenberg • FailedMessiah.com

Just before 4:00 pm Wednesday, dozens of FBI agents swarmed into the Ramapo, New York town hall, ordering out all but a handful of employees and seizing documents and hard drives. After eight hours of searching and collecting evidence, the agents left just before midnight.

Investigators from the Rockland County DA’s office reportedly assisted FBI agents during the raid.

DA Thomas Zugibe reportedly told media that the raid is not related to the ongoing corruption investigation that brought the arrests of six political leaders last month, including Spring Valley Mayor Noramie Jasmin and state Sen. Malcolm Smith (D-Queens).

A law enforcement source with knowledge of the investigation reportedly told Newsday that some of the records the FBI seized are documents related to Provident Bank ballpark and the development corporation that runs it.

Joe Meyers (D-Suffern) spoke to reporters outside the town hall as the FBI agents were inside. Newsday reported that Meyers said that he and unnamed others have been in regular contact with FBI agents about alleged corruption in the Ramapo government.

"Where it leads, whether it's the stadium, or whether it's other things that the FBI was given information about, is anybody's guess at this point, but I think the stadium is certainly a possibility," Meyers reportedly said.

Ramapo town attorney Michael Klein declined to tell media what town departments the FBI records were taken from. But he did say that the records seized dated back about two or three years.

"The FBI wanted to review a limited category of records. We provided them everything they asked for. They refused to discuss the nature of the investigation. They didn't interview anyone. They didn't (say) if anyone was the target of any investigation and that's as much as we know,” Klein reportedly said.

"It was very chaotic. [FBI agents] told everyone to step away from their computers, so that's what we did,” an unnamed town employee reportedly said.

Ramapo police guarded the rear entrances to the building. The front doors were locked.

Ramapo Supervisor Christopher St. Lawrence remained in the building until after the raid was completed. The blinds to his office were reportedly closed for hours after the raid began.

A law enforcement source told Newsday that town records were seized in a raid rather than subpoenaed because of the fear that the documents and computer drives would be destroyed if the federal government relied on subpoenas to get them.

Since last month’s arrests of six leaders in a corruption sting set up by haredi scammer Satmar hasid Moses Stern, Ramapo residents reportedly told Newsday that FBI agents had come to their homes to interview them about the town's politics and government.

"We are hoping for justice finally in the Town of Ramapo and we're looking forward to seeing what evidence is out there," Peggy Hatton, an activist has long opposed St. Lawrence and the scandal-plagued haredi-controlled East Ramapo school board, reportedly said.

St. Lawrence reportedly abruptly hung up the phone when a reporter called him during the raid.

Mike Castellucio of the activist group Preserve Ramapo said he had spoken with FBI agents and given them information before the raid, but still didn’t know exactly what agents were looking for in the raid. Nevertheless, Castellucio was ecstatic.

"The only thing they didn't do is walk [St. Lawrence and other town leaders] out with cuffs. I've been waiting for this for 10 years. Maybe there is a God,” he reportedly said.

[Hat Tip: Ruthie, Devorah.]

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Comments

[Devorah]

Why do you think they did this on Shavuous when no chasids were working there? Just curious.

[rocky]

When are they going to raid the school district offices?

[Jake24]

@Devorah

Curiously the arrests of Jasmin/Desmaret etc. occurred on Pesach...

[Devorah]

@Jake. Any significance why they choose major Jewish holidays?

[sf]

Luke, I see a rash of fundraising letters in your future :)

[Jake24]

@Devorah

I was discussing it with a friend. The only thing we could come up with was simply to avoid a lot of the commotion that would happen with all the Hasidim descending on Town Hall. However, for the arrests over Pesach it's possible that the FBI did it to have more time to gather evidence without interruption from Hasidim. That theory doesn't hold as much weight here because it doesn't seem like any religious Jews are directly involved, but the FBI might have done it not knowing what they would find, and hoping to be able to gather evidence if they discovered during the raid that religious Jews were involved.

[MonseyLuke]

Devorah:

"Why do you think they did this on Shavuous when no chasids were working there? Just curious."

I think it was done purposefully to reduce Town staff numbers on Wednesday and the Town Board's input by two at this morning's executive session.

Luke.

[MonseyLuke]

[Visions of Ruthie turning cartwheels!]

Ruthie:

In all seriousness, you came to mind immediately when I was alerted about the raid by my Town Hall friend. I guess we have to await the outcome.

Luke.

[Joe Izrael]

HAHAHA, about time!

I wish they'd take down the Skverer Rebbe yemach shmo too, but I think he's too well connected too high.

Anyway, St. Lawrence and some of his hassid cronies going to jail is good news.

PS
Shmarya - the new sign-in rule sucks!
Just sayin'.

[ah-pee-chorus]

with all the smoke over the years its hard to believe theres no fire.

[Jake24]

@Luke

Do you mean that the FBI cares about the Town Board meeting this morning?

[RWisler]

When are they going to arrest that entire corrupt school board that has denied education to the children of that region?

[MonseyLuke]

Jake:

Less personnel in Town Hall during the "raid." Less input during the "Monday Morning Quarterbacking" in executive session and no communication on Wednesday to Thursday, sundown, with two Board members and Troodler, the LCD dude. Perfect storm. That's all.

Luke.

[Jake24]

@Luke

I guess that makes sense...

[MonseyLuke]

SF:

"Luke, I see a rash of fundraising letters in your future :)"

Seriously and sadly, they will come.

Luke.

[ruthie]

Luke:

In all seriousness, you came to mind immediately when I was alerted about the raid.

[ruthie]

it was done COMPLETELY on purpose that there would be no hasidim
inside.
this was the vatican with all the swiss guards not guarding the pope.
something like that.

[Wigmore]

Has anyone heard from DBS?

[dh]

DB is at the shredder.

[Eli, what me messiah?]

Babablooooooooeeeeeeey!

Sorry. Just had to get that out. Ramapo raid and no more catcha tests...

[Yochanan Lavie]

I sure don't miss those captchas, although I suspect some trolls derived their screen names from them. Mazel tov on the raid! The Evil Empire may be in for a fall.

[MonseyLuke]

"DB is at the shredder."

DH:

Brilliant, absolutely brilliant ! :)

Luke.

[Devorah]

Hopefully, Daniel Schwartz was warned by Kantrowitz to stay off this board during business hours. (Better listen, DB, because most Rockland law firms do not allow their ASSociates to harass online.)

[Pearl Of Wisdom]

I think we will see swift action. The SEC was there with the FBI. If it is true, the bonds were floated with bogus information about the assets the Town had, plus they were always screwing around with moving money from one account to another....something the ERCSD is doing all the time.

These are pretty back and white issues. I hope action is swift and decisive. I hear that the FBI will be in ER by summer....let's hope that is true!

[MonseyLuke]

Pearl: [a/k/a Person in the Know]

Agreed regarding Town Hall. If the Town commingled Town and LDC funds, and if inflated assets were included in the LDC bond applications, you are looking at a host of charges including wire fraud. What I am trying to confirm is, who is the politically connected insider [referenced in the Ramapo Times and heard around Town Hall] who alerted the FBI to these finer details? I have my two guesses but now I am on a mission to confirm.

As for ERCSD, I hope this is true. :)

Luke.

[MonseyLuke]

While speaking of the ERCSD, given the scrutiny being given the entire situation by the authorities, including the FBI, why in h*ll would CSL put together the bogus puppet candidates [with the help of Logan,] and why would the current Board risk participating in this? How stupid can one be? I guess when CSL "missed" the Stern bullet, he through caution to the wind.

Luke.

[MonseyLuke]

*threw d*mn autocorrect. :)

[dh]

Eli Messiah @ 2:18

I knew you'd be happy and wanted to get your thoughts on Mn0askdign djga9s avna9.

[Eli, what me messiah?]

dh, LOL! no more anguishing over whether Mn0askdign includes a capital O (oh) or 0 (zero)), that's for sure.

but after having invested such energy in learning to recognize Captcha words, I'm now more sympathetic to those who leave yeshivas with similarly marketable skills.