Allegheny County District Attorney Stephen A. Zappala Jr. revealed Wednesday that a search warrant his office served on the City of Pittsburgh last month related to funding for programs serving at-risk youth in minority communities.
Zappala provided no further details, but he also expressed concerns about no-bid contracts entered into by the city while Ed Gainey was mayor and the use of federal covid-19 relief money.
The county’s top law enforcement officer said his office was working with federal agents but did not elaborate.
Zappala’s comments came during an appearance in West Mifflin to discuss the future of the Mon View Heights housing complex and the defunct Century III Mall.
“That money wasn’t being spent on any youth,” Zappala said. “And you’re talking about a lot of covid monies, all the covid money that was spent. We’re taking a look at every dime of that, and it’s a great deal of money.”
Pittsburgh received $335 million in pandemic relief funds.
Zappala’s comments came just two hours after a deputy district attorney in his office argued to a Common Pleas judge why the March 23 warrant — which Zappala said sought “voluminous” information — ought to remain sealed from public view.
An editor for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette went to court in a bid to unseal the warrant and accompanying affidavit of probable cause, which lays out the DA’s justification for the search.
Deputy District Attorney Jon Pittman argued to Judge Jill E. Rangos that the documents should remain sealed to maintain the integrity of the DA’s investigation, protect people’s reputations and address fears by some witnesses of retaliation.
She agreed, and the paperwork remains under a 60-day seal.
But on Wednesday afternoon, Zappala addressed the warrant while fielding questions during a news conference his office had arranged to discuss Mon View Heights and the long-vacant Century III Mall site.
“When we seal a search warrant, it’s because one, you don’t want to tip off the other side. You don’t want to tip off potential targets,” Zappala said. “But even more importantly, I don’t want to throw people’s names around or companies’ names around until I have probable cause.”
Zappala said his office is not prepared to file charges in connection with the search warrant.
“We are prepared to go to criminal complaint on other matters that potentially involve this, but we’re not there yet,” Zappala said. “So we protect the reputations of the people that are potential targets. Information that we’ve asked for, certainly from the city, is voluminous. We haven’t received that information yet. We’re moving in several different directions.”
Zappala noted that after Pittsburgh Mayor Corey O’Connor took office early this year, he uncovered budget discrepancies and found “the accounting just does not make sense.”
The DA said he “absolutely” has concerns about the city’s accounting.
Zappala said there are several no-bid contracts under the Gainey administration “that we’re interested in.”
He provided no additional information.
When asked whether there is a federal investigation, Zappala responded, “I know we have some agents we are working with, yes.”