9 WARRANTS SERVED IN PITTSBURGH EIDC INVESTIGATION REACHES INTO EAST COAST FILM OFFICE.

Byline: Beth Barrett Staff Writer

Warrants to search bank account and credit card records of the Pittsburgh Film Office and its director were issued Tuesday as part of an expanding criminal investigation of the Entertainment Industry Development Corp, according to a Los Angeles District Attorney's Office spokeswoman.

Sandi Gibbons, spokeswoman for District Attorney Steve Cooley, said Allegheny County officials in Pennsylvania issued the nine warrants at the request of local prosecutors. The search follows the seizure of numerous documents last week during raids of the Pittsburgh Film Office, the home of its director, Dawn Keezer, and an art gallery.

``At our behest, Allegheny (officials) followed up at nine financial institutions, including banks, for financial records,'' Gibbons said.

She said the warrants, known as ``roll back warrants,'' are the result of material obtained in the earlier searches. It could not be determined Tuesday whether Allegheny County has launched its own, separate investigation.

EIDC President Cody Cluff could not be reached for comment. Last week, Keezer called allegations of impropriety ``unsubstantiated.''

EIDC spokeswoman Kathleen Milnes said she hadn't seen any of the warrants. She called all allegations against Cluff ``unwarranted.''

``None of it's true,'' Milnes said.

EIDC lawyer George B. Newhouse Jr. said there was no merit to justify the warrants.

``Our position is that the first set of warrants were a wild goose chase designed to harass Cody Cluff,'' Newhouse said. ``It's regrettable the investigation has transcended to (another) state.''

EIDC attorneys have repeatedly said the agency is not a public entity, which is the basis of the District Attorney's Office investigation. The EIDC was created out of Los Angeles city and county agencies to expedite issuing permits for location filming and to combat runaway production.

Los Angeles investigators, in two affidavits last week, said they suspected Cluff of misappropriating public funds with the help of Keezer.

One affidavit asserted Cluff's personal relationship with Keezer influenced the contribution of at least $10,000 from the EIDC to Pittsburgh Film Office's fund-raising efforts.

Affidavits in support of last week's search asserted the evidence would show that Cluff, with Keezer's help, funneled more than $40,000 in EIDC funds through Pittsburgh and, ``secreted the funds within Pittsburgh Film Office, Film US, Dawn Keezer's home and bank accounts.''

Newhouse, EIDC's lawyer, said prosecutors' contention that Film US ``is a shell entity is flat-out wrong, and presumably their search warrants will confirm those facts.''

Last week, the Pittsburgh Film Office's board of directors issued a statement in support of Keezer, calling her performance ``exemplary,'' and expressing confidence that the allegation would be found to have no merit.

``We want to emphasize that the target of the Los Angeles investigation is the Entertainment Industry Development Corp., not the Pittsburgh Film Office,'' the statement said. ``The PFO has not been accused of any wrongdoing.''

Detectives are expected to take several weeks to conduct the searches, Allegheny County district attorney's spokesman Mike Manko said.

Cathy McCollom, spokeswoman for the Pittsburgh Film Office, said she had not heard about the searches and had no comment.

Allegheny County Controller Dan Onorato has also said he would audit the Pittsburgh film agency, which was created 12 years ago and charged with trying to bring film projects to the area.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.