Federal agents raiding Lewiston office building

LEWISTON — A gaggle of federal investigators descended on a downtown
business building Wednesday. At least a dozen agents wearing badges
identifying them as agents with the federal Office of the Inspector
General were removing material in backpacks from an office or offices
on the fourth and fifth floors of the Professional Building at 145
Lisbon Street.

The raid appeared to be unannounced and several plain-clothes agents,
with badges dangling from chains on their necks, were observed going in
and out of the building.

The building’s directory shows various occupants for those floors
including offices for attorneys Lillian Kennedy, Michael Doherty and
Decent Home Care, Inc. on the fourth floor. The fifth floor is
occupied, according to the directory, by Global Home Health, licensed
social worker Sharon Bell and the Somali Bantu Community office.

According to John Martins, director of communications for the Maine
Department of Health and Human Services, the state was notified late
Tuesday night to the possibility of a federal raid in Lewiston, but was
not informed of the target of raid.

Typically, Martins said, “if the feds are involved it relates to one of
the federal benefit programs … a federal program that would be under
scrutiny.”

Which office or offices investigators were focusing on was not immediately known.