Law enforcement officers served search warrants Wednesday morning at the home and office of Los Angeles Unified School District Superintendent Alberto Carvalho, authorities said.
The Department of Justice confirmed that searches were being carried out, and video showed FBI agents at the superintendent’s home Wednesday morning. Agents at the scene refused to answer questions about the operation.
Law enforcement sources earlier told NBC4 Investigates that the searches were at Carvalho’s office and his home in San Pedro, a neighborhood about 23 miles south of downtown Los Angeles.
Details about the searches were not immediately available. It was not immediately clear whether anything was seized at the locations.
Carvalho did not immediately reply to requests for comment Wednesday night made by email and phone call.
An affidavit filed in support of the searches was under seal, authorities said.
“We can confirm that the FBI is serving a court-authorized warrant at those locations,” the FBI’s Los Angeles field office said in a statement. “However, the affidavit in support of the warrant has been sealed by the court and we, therefore, have no further comment.”
The LAUSD also confirmed there was “law enforcement activity” at its headquarters and Carvalho’s home. “The District is cooperating with the investigation,” a spokesperson said in a statement.
Video taken by NBC Los Angeles’ helicopter appeared to show agents walking away from the property and leaving the neighborhood in a Dodge Charger. Another group of agents remained in the area at mid-morning, gathered across the street from Carvalho’s residence in the southern Los Angeles County seaside community.
A neighbor estimated there were about 20 FBI agents outside the home at one point early Wednesday morning.
“I was with my wife. We were having our cup of coffee, and we heard the sirens going off, and then all of a sudden somebody said, ‘Stay in your house,’ or whatever,” John Schafer said. “I saw at least five, six that were parked in front of my house and one house above.
“I saw that one was in camo with a rifle pointing at the house. And, as he’s pointing to the house, I’m like, woah,” Schafer said. “I knew it was the superintendent, but they told us to stay in the house so I stayed in my house.”
The agents, some carrying bags, refused to comment when asked about the operation.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office confirmed there were no arrests in the operation, which the agency said involved search warrants, not arrest warrants.
The searches in Los Angeles County were tied to another in the South Florida community of Southwest Ranches, the FBI said.
“We searched a residence in Southwest Ranches today as part of this matter and have since cleared the scene,” the FBI’s Miami field office said.
Carvalho has been chief of the nation’s second-largest school system since February 2022. He was unanimously re-appointed by the school board last year.
NBCLA reached out to school board members for comment but did not immediately receive replies.
Before arriving in Los Angeles, Carvalho headed the Miami-Dade County Public Schools for 14 years. Born in Portugal, Carvalho previously taught physics, chemistry and calculus in Miami and was later an assistant principal at Miami Jackson Senior High School.
He has also been a vocal critic of the Trump administration’s aggressive immigration crackdown and its impacts on students in his district.
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