SEARCH WARRANT FOR 'RUBICO10'?

Can the national media ignore this?

A person who identified himself as a witness tells 10 News that agents with the FBI served a federal search warrant at the Fort Sanders residence of David Kernell early Sunday morning. Kernell lives in the Commons apartment complex at 1115 Highland Ave.
David Kernell is the son of Mike Kernell, a Democratic state representative from Memphis.
A Department of Justice spokesperson confirmed there has been "investigatory activity" in Knoxville regarding the Palin case, but she said there are no publicly available search warrants, and no charges have been filed.
A separate law enforcement source confirmed to 10 News that a search warrant was served on Kernell's apartment.
According to the witness, several agents arrived at The Commons of Knoxville around midnight.

Thanks to commenter Kitty for the tip. Will update if further information develops.

UPDATE: Apparently, Gateway Pundit had this first, with a link at Instapundit.

UPDATE II: Jammie Wearing Fool also has it linked. This story broke just about the time I was complaining, "[S]ince it was reported Thursday that the Memphis FBI office was involved in the Palin investigation, not a single major news organization has followed up to ask what it is in Memphis that merits the FBI's interest." If this search-warrant story proves legit, it's going to be hard for the national media to ignore now.

UPDATE III: Jawa: "You ever notice that Glenn Reynolds and David Kernell are never photographed together -- even though they're both supposedly at UT?" And did you also notice that Rusty Shackleford and Glenn Reynolds have never been photographed together, even though they're both bloggers? I'm just sayin' . . .

UPDATE IV: Remember how, when the Palin hacking first made headlines, all the liberals declared it just a juvenile prank comparable to the hacking of Paris Hilton's account? So what's going to be their excuse if the FBI has served a search warrant on the son of a Democratic politician? Hey, I'm like Andrew Sullivan: Just asking questions . . .

UPDATE V: Interesting tidbit from the story:

Kernell's three roommates were also subpoenaed, and must testify this week in Chattanooga.

Hmmm. I'm thinking this might be connected to my theory that the FBI has had Kernell under surveillance since Thursday. If Kernell's father is right in saying that they haven't been contacted by the feds, then it took some "investigatory activity" to identify Kernell's roommates, and there must be some reason they suppose the testimony of those roommates would have relevance to this case. Boys, say hello to the federal grand jury!

UPDATE VI: Sarah at PW Pub writes: "I was just about to link the tragic news that David Kernell was beyond the reach of the law and its protections, lynched, murdered by the blogosphere!" I think she means "the bottom layer of the right-wing noise machine."

UPDATE VII: Allahpundit:

What were they doing serving a search warrant circa 1 a.m. on Sunday morning? Just maximizing the embarrassment by crashing this kid's party, a sort of buzzkill di tutti buzzkills? Kind of jerky -- yet kind of awesome.

I'm telling you: The feds had this kid under surveillance. They wanted to ID as many of his "known associates" as possible, and maybe busting up a party at 1 a.m. was the best way to get them. Besides (a) it's more likely they'll slip up and say something incriminating after they've been knocking back jaegerbombs for a couple hours and (b) arrest the kid for underage drinking, and you've got a legit excuse to keep him in custody if that's what you want to do.

But ... man. Can you imagine being a college kid, partying down, somebody knocks on the door and it's the FB-freaking-I?

UPDATE VIII: The Nashville Tennessean has a report, which seems to be based entirely on WBIR's reporting.

UPDATE IX: More at Free Republic, Scoop This, AOSHQ, Pursuing Holiness, Red State and the Washington Times.

UPDATE X: Sharon Cobb: "Let me add that David is in a hotel with his father, Mike, and not in jail."

PREVIOUSLY:

• 9/19: Hey, an online lynching!
• 9/19: FBI surveilling David Kernell?
• 9/19: Pray for the Kernell family
• 9/18: David Kernell under investigation
• 9/18: Palin hacker ID'd?
• 9/17: Left-wingers hack Sarah Palin's personal e-mail account