Brown asks for investigation of missing laptop

2013-01-09

By Pat Cooper

It would appear the final battle between Fayette County commissioner Steve Brown and former county attorney Scott Bennett hasn’t been written.
According to Brown, after newly appointed interim county attorney Dennis Davenport attempted to check the files on Bennett’s former computer at the county administrative complex he discovered the hard drive was missing from the computer. Additionally, it was determined that Bennett had not yet returned the county-issued laptop.
Brown said he’s asked the Fayette County Marshal’s office to investigate the possible ‘theft of county property’ and attempt to retrieve the missing drive and laptop.
Brown was also upset, he said, when he learned that retiring county administrator Jack Krakeel had his office computer wiped clean by staff members, as he was concerned that some of his personal information may have been on it.
“He wiped county files. He could have made a formal request to have the IT department remove any of his information. Now, there may have been information that was part of the public record, that may be needed for open records requests, that is gone.”
Additionally, he noted, with his own ethics complaint ready to come before the county board of ethics on January 16, there may have been evidence which would have been used in that case on those computers and which is no longer available.
Brown said he would wait to see what the marshal’s office investigation reveals before commenting further.