At least four houses in Oakland were raided by the FBI on Thursday morning with one of the residences belonging to Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao.
One other house was identified as belonging to Andy Duong, a member of a family that owns Cal Waste Solutions. Cal Waste Solutions has been investigated over campaign contributions to Thao and other elected city officials. That was back in 2020.
"The FBI is conducting court-authorized law enforcement activity on Maiden Lane. We are unable to provide additional information at this time," the FBI said in a statement.
As if Thao didn't have enough to worry about, the Oakland registrar's office announced on Wednesday that enough signatures had been gathered to place the petition to recall Thao on the November ballot.
Oakland United to Recall Sheng Thao (OUST), the campaign spearheading the recall effort, submitted 40,000 signatures before the July 22 deadline.
Supporters of OUST say they want Thao gone because of the high crime rate, the firing of the Oakland police chief, and the loss of the MLB team the Oakland Athletics.
"This historic achievement marks the first recall in Oakland's history, with Oakland voters signing with a sense of urgency and purpose to recall this dishonest and incompetent mayor," said OUST President, Retired Alameda County Superior Court Judge Brenda Harbin-Forte. "Thao’s actions have pushed Oakland to the brink, but the community is saying, 'NO MORE. We want Thao gone.'"
The A's are moving to Las Vegas because people didn't show up for the games. Even when the team was good, they couldn't fill Oakland Coliseum. Oakland lost the A's because it is a horrible place to live, and there is no civic spirit. The effort to keep the A's in Oakland was lackluster and pathetic.
In fact, the A's couldn't wait to get out of Oakland. Their new Las Vegas home won't be ready until 2026, so they will play in Sacramento in 2025.
It appears that the FBI search bore fruit.
An FBI agent stepped outside Thao’s home on Maiden Lane Thursday morning with light blue surgical gloves. He asked members of the media to stay away from three black and grey SUVs belonging to the FBI agents parked on the street outside her home. The agent would not answer questions from reporters, including the reason for the raid, what they were finding and how many agents were inside.
At about 10 a.m. more than a dozen agents exited the home carrying paper boxes, clipboards and large black plastic tubs. They drove off in four SUVs. The mayor was nowhere in sight and nobody answered when reporters knocked on the front door and rang the doorbell.
Miles away, law enforcement in FBI jackets searched another house, nestled at 4320 View Crest Court in the Oakland hills Thursday morning. Two were rifling through luggage in the garage and declined to speak with a reporter. At about 9 a.m., agents began searching parked vehicles outside the house.
The people of Oakland are frustrated and angry. Their police force has been decimated and the situation is made worse by a lack of trust between the civilians and cops. Crime supposedly went down last year but most people in Oakland attribute that to victims failing to report crimes.
Maybe the next mayor can turn it around.
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