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Law officers raided a Bossier City business today, seizing business records as part of a growing investigation of the maintenance division of the Bossier Parish school system.
The search was conducted at ArkLaTex Air Repair, which has been hired by the school district to install and maintain air conditioners at schools around the parish, investigators said.
That is a lucrative business, with millions of dollars worth of work awarded in the past two years, investigators said. The Sheriff's Department is investigating whether a disproportionate amount of the work went to one company and what the circumstances were.
Detectives with the Bossier Parish Sheriff's Department, along with FBI agents, were seen removing documents from the business today.
Sheriff's Department spokesman Ed Baswell called the case "a potentially criminal investigation."
"We're not at a stage where we're ready to arrest anyone," Baswell said. "I don't think arrests are imminent but arrests may come on down the road."
Efforts to reach the company for comment today were unsuccessful.
Bossier Schools Superintendent Ken Kruithof, who is not under investigation, said administrators alerted law enforcement about the situation at the maintenance division. He said they will cooperate with the probe, which also involves the state legislative auditor.
The investigation began earlier this summer after several hundred dollars in cash disappeared from the school system's maintenance department. The money was in a safe that several maintenance employees had access to.
Authorities said the money came from selling old school air conditioning units for scrap. The cash was put in a safe at the maintenance building. Several people knew where the key was.
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