Update (Monday Jan 26, 2026 at 10:50 p.m)
After months of pushing for answers and reaching out to sources about the raids at two Clewiston government buildings, Fox 4’s Austin Schargorodski finally got his hands on the front pages of both search warrants.
Schargorodski has been covering this investigation since the beginning. On Monday, he went to the Clewiston City Council meeting, where he approached the city manager and city attorney to ask for their comments about the raids.
Watch to hear what the City Manager and Attorney had to say about the raids and records request delay:
As Schargorodski went up to ask city leaders if they had a moment to speak about the raids, City Manager Danny William refused to comment on them.
Schargorodski received the front pages of the search warrants on Monday. That came only after he left the city clerk a voicemail questioning the lack of response to a public records request he filed back in October.
Schargorodski also told the city Fox 4 was prepared to take legal action if the request was not fulfilled. About 15 minutes later, the City Hall warrant was sent to him.
After Williams declined to comment on the raids themselves, Schargorodski questioned him about the delay in releasing the records.
“She’s overworked. She’s been getting a lot of records requests. A lot,” Williams said. Williams was referring to the city clerk.
Schargorodski also approached City Attorney Derek Rooney, who declined to go on camera but instead provided a written statement.
“Given the unknown status of the Sheriff’s investigation, I did not authorize the release until after I confirmed with the State Attorney’s Office had no objection to the release,” Rooney wrote.
Schargorodski also asked for an update on the external review of city operations that council called for after the raid. Rooney said he was not in that meeting and asked Schargorodski to reach out to the other city attorney.
The investigation stems from two raids last year — one at City Hall and the other at the Community Development Building.
The Sheriff’s Office sent Schargorodski the second of the two warrants on Monday. That warrant says a judge found probable cause to believe there was official misconduct, but it does not go beyond that.
The other warrant states that the same judge found probable cause to believe bid tampering laws were being violated. Bid tampering refers to illegally manipulating the bidding process for a city project to favor a specific contractor.
The warrant allowed investigators to collect evidence. However, the documents do not provide details about what bids were possibly tampered with.
Aside from the warrants, little information has been released since November. At that time, the Sheriff’s Office said, quote, “Detectives are working to close this case in the upcoming weeks.”
Now, nearly two and a half months later, the Hendry County Sheriff’s Office says the investigation is still ongoing. Schargorodski will continue pushing for answers and bring updates as soon as he gets them.
Original Reporting:
Fox 4 has obtained the front pages of both search warrants related to last year's raids on Clewiston city buildings after months of pushing for answers and reaching out to sources about the investigation.
Community Correspondent Austin Schargorodski has been covering this investigation since the beginning. He got his hands on both warrants on Monday.
The first one came after leaving the clerk a voicemail and questioning their lack of response to an October public records request. Fox 4 also told them the station was prepared to take legal action if the request was not fulfilled. About 15 minutes later, they sent the city hall warrant.
Then, through a different government agency, we obtained the second warrant for the community development building.
The community development building warrant said a judge found probable cause to believe there was official misconduct, but it didn't go beyond that. In the city hall warrant, that same judge believed Florida's bid tampering laws were being violated.
Bid tampering refers to illegally manipulating the bidding process for a city project to favor a specific contractor. The warrant allowed investigators to search city hall and take records related to those allegations. However, the search warrant does not provide details about what bids were possibly tampered with.
This all started in October, when Hendry County Sheriff's Office investigators raided Clewiston City Hall as part of what they called "concerning business practices." At a council meeting, commissioners voted to bring in an outside review of city operations.
In November, the investigation expanded when the Clewiston Community Development Building was raided on a second search warrant. The sheriff's office said a substantial amount of information was taken from that building.
In November, the sheriff's office said, "Detectives are working to close this case in the upcoming weeks." But now, nearly 10 weeks later, the Hendry County Sheriff's Office said the investigation is still ongoing.
Fox 4 will continue pushing for answers and bring updates from the city council meeting on Monday.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
