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.
According to Wright, officers also woke his three young children ages 3, 7, and 11 and put them in a Stockton police patrol car with him. Officers then searched his house.
As it turned out, the person law enforcement was looking for was not there - Wright's estranged wife.
"They put me in handcuffs in that hot patrol car for six hours, traumatizing my kids," Wright said.
Wright said he later went to the mayor and Stockton Police Department, but the City of Stockton had nothing to do with Wright's search warrant.
The U.S. Department of Education issued the search and called in the S.W.A.T for his wife's defaulted student loans.
That's right. The same Federal government which has brought you the worst economy since the Great Depression is now sending S.W.A.T. teams out in pursuit of student loan money.
But hey, the folks in the Department of Education are only following orders.... that makes it all better.
UPDATE:
Well, this may make things a little different:
After Wright's claim received national attention, the Department of Education issued a new statement by Deputy Press Secretary Daren Briscoe, who noted the criminal investigation. "The Inspector General's Office does not execute search warrants for late loan payments," he said.
"Because this is an ongoing criminal investigation, we can't comment on the specifics of the case," Briscoe said. "We can say that the OIG's office conducts about 30 to 35 search warrants a year on issues such as bribery, fraud, and embezzlement of federal student aid funds."
I do know there is a problem in this country with fake "students" maxing out loans for classes they never take. Some of the money goes to the university for tuition, but the rest is pocketed by the "student" who is never seen again. Our state university system in fact has a separate grade to give to those students who enroll in classes but never turn in any work. This grade alerts the university and Federal officials to this potentially fraudulent activity. Sometimes it isn't fraud involved. It's just dumb, stoned, drunk, depressed and/or confused students.
I'm still going to question the necessity of a dawn SWAT style raid, but at least this has moved into the realm of criminal activity.
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