STEUBENVILLE — Two months after they raided Eastern Gateway Community College’s administrative offices, the Special Investigations Unit within the Ohio Auditor’s Office still won’t say exactly what it is they’re investigating.

The state has denied a Herald-Star request for copies of the search warrant, supporting documentation and an inventory of items seized during that raid, claiming those documents “are protected under the CLEIRs exception to the public records act.”

During the raid, employees have said records and computers were seized, both from campus offices and an off-campus storage site.

By law, anyone can request copies of public records in Ohio, including investigatory records. However, law enforcement generally can withhold documents if their disclosure would identify an uncharged suspect, identify a confidential source, reveal specific confidential investigatory techniques or specific investigatory work product, or reveal information that could endanger the life or physical safety of a law enforcement officer, a crime victim, a witness or a confidential informant.

In denying the request Wednesday, state officials said releasing the warrant, supporting documents or seized information could disclose the identity of an “uncharged suspect” — the target or targets of the investigation.

While state officials refuse to say who that might be, reports also have surfaced that personal banking records of some employees have been subpoenaed by the state — and that the employees were notified by their banks, not the state, they were under scrutiny.

Eastern Gateway Community College Education Association President Jim Corrin said affected individuals report the records that were subpoenaed date to 2015 — the same year Jimmie Bruce took over as Eastern Gateway president. Bruce resigned in January 2020.

Bruce was indicted in August on felony theft charges and allegations he’d unlawfully benefited from a public contract, but on Jan. 3 — one day before the campus was raided — those charges were dismissed without prejudice, which means prosecutors can refile them.

“I know bargaining unit members whose bank records have been subpoenaed,” Corrin said. “I don’t know of anybody else. Obviously, when their records were subpoenaed, they contacted me, and I contacted the Ohio Education Association.”

Corrin pointed out that, since cost-cutting measures were instituted by the state, approximately 30 union members — none of them faculty members — have lost their jobs.

“As far as I know, no one from the administration has (lost their job),” he said, “and the administration should be held accountable, the administration should answer questions. They owe it to taxpayers.”