Feds execute search warrant on new NYPD commissioner just over a week after he was appointed
CNN
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Just over a week after Thomas Donlon became acting New York City police commissioner, federal authorities executed a search warrant at his home Friday, Donlon said in a statement Saturday night.
“On Friday, September 20, federal authorities executed search warrants at my residence,” Donlon said in a statement. “They seized documents that came into my possession approximately 20 years ago and are unrelated to my work with the New York City Police Department.”
Law enforcement officials say the search warrant is for documents the commissioner may have kept from his previous position. It does not appear that the search warrant is related to any of the corruption investigations currently surrounding City Hall.
It is unclear what prompted the search so many years after Donlon left government service. An FBI spokesman in New York declined to comment on the search warrant or the confidentiality of the documents sought.
Donlon, a former FBI official, added in his statement that the search warrant is not within the NYPD’s jurisdiction and that the NYPD will not comment on it.
Donlon was named acting police commissioner just over a week ago, after the previous commissioner, Edward Caban, resigned following a federal investigation. It is the first high-level departure from Mayor Eric Adams’ administration since four separate federal investigations into Adams’ office and the NYPD began.
Caban, who served as commissioner for 13 months, said in a statement at the time: “The news of recent developments has created a distraction for our department, and I am unwilling to turn my attention to anything other than our important work, or the safety of the men and women of the NYPD.”
Caban’s departure comes days after it was reported that investigators with the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York seized his electronic devices and phones. The investigation involves Caban’s brother and law enforcement around New York nightclubs, a source familiar with the investigation told CNN.
Several other members of the mayor’s staff are under investigation by U.S. attorneys in the Eastern and Southern Districts of New York.
Adams appointed Tom Donlon as acting NYPD commissioner on September 12 after discussing Caban’s resignation.
“I recently accepted the resignation of NYPD Commissioner Edward Caban,” Adams said at a news conference last week, adding that it was “the best decision at the time.”
“I respect his decision and wish him well,” Adams said.
Donlon is a former intelligence official who served as director of the New York Bureau of Homeland Security, led the FBI’s National Threat Center and the FBI-NYPD Joint Terrorism Task Force.
“I am honored and humbled to be named Acting Commissioner of the New York City Police Department, the greatest law enforcement agency in the world,” Donlon said in a statement at the time.
“My goals are clear: to continue historic progress in reducing crime and removing illegal guns from our communities, to maintain the highest standards of integrity and transparency, and to support our dedicated officers who put their lives on the line every day to keep us safe,” Donlon said.
