FBI raids office of Sen. Ron Calderon in Sacramento

The FBI isn't saying why, citing a court's seal on the search warrant, but agents on Tuesday searched the Capitol office of San Gabriel Valley state senator Ron Calderon and of the Latino Legislative Caucus. Boxes of material were taken away. Nobody's talking so far, but the Sergeant at Arms for the state Senate issued a statement Tuesday night, confirming that "this afternoon, agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation served search warrants in the State Capitol at the office of Senator Ron Calderon and in the Legislative Office Building at the Latino Legislative Caucus office. Those warrants are sealed by order of the Federal Court; therefore we have no further information."

Late Tuesday night, the LA Times reported that "sources with knowledge of the probe said the search is part of a wider public corruption investigation in Los Angeles County."

Federal agents wheeled boxes out of Sen. Ron Calderon's Capitol office after dark on Tuesday night and exited through the garage, ending the first such raid in nearly three decades.

The agents spent hours in Calderon's office before leaving with three cardboard boxes and multiple plastic cases.

A few boxes were rolled to a freight elevator on metal dollies. Two women carried a plastic folding table, and a man held a worn black briefcase.

Questions have certainly swirled around the Calderon family political clan in the past. From the Sacramento Bee on Tuesday night:

Calderon, D-Montebello, 55, a business-friendly lawmaker who belongs to a family political dynasty, is serving out his final two years as a representative of the 30th Senate District. Two of his brothers have previously served in the Legislature, and his nephew Ian Calderon now serves in the state Assembly.

Mark Geragos, Ron Calderon's lawyer, said prosecutors "have no case," and accused them of acting inappropriately in disclosing that the FBI was conducting a search.

"The U.S. attorney's office should be ashamed of themselves," he said. "They have no case, so what they do is they leak the sealed information in an effort to hassle innocent people, and that's all the comment I have."

When asked about the nature of the investigation, Geragos said, "What they're going after is anything to divert attention from their own misfeasance or malfeasance."

Sacramento Bee photo at the Latino Caucus offices: Paul Kitagaki Jr.