Agents Raid Burbank Health Lab; Officials Won’t Say Why

BURBANK — More than two dozen federal and state agents raided a Burbank-based health laboratory Friday, though government officials declined to reveal the purpose of the search.

Investigators spent most of the morning and much of the afternoon combing through computer files and other documents at Health Line Clinical Laboratories Inc., said Gary L. Burkhartsmeier, the company’s director of laboratory operations.

“I have not had any explanation,” Burkhartsmeier said. “The least they can do is tell us what they think we’ve done.”

Federal and state authorities confirmed that Health Line had been under investigation and that agents executed search warrants at the facility in the 2200 block of North Hollywood Way, as well as another Health Line lab in San Francisco.

“All I can tell you is we served search warrants at both addresses,” said state Attorney General’s Office spokesman Matt Ross.

FBI agents and agents from the Attorney General’s Bureau of Medical Fraud conducted the raid, he said.

Health Line Clinical Laboratories is a federally and state licensed lab, according to the California Department of Health Services.

The lab employs more than 160 people, many of whom conduct tests for doctors’ offices and medical clinics, including blood tests, drug tests and biopsies, Burkhartsmeier said.

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Times correspondent Jon Steinman contributed to this story.