Airport board seeks porn e-mail inquiry

An investigation has been launched into a pornographic video sent to some Spokane International Airport employees from the e-mail account of the airport police chief.

The airport board decided at a closed session on Wednesday to hire an independent investigator to examine the case, said David Brukardt, board chairman.

“It’s something we take seriously,” Brukardt said. “We’d like to determine the whole chain of events.”

Police Chief Peter Troyer said he is uncertain how the message was sent from his account but believes it might have been caused by a virus later found on his computer. The e-mail came to light in a report earlier this week on KXLY.

Troyer said he received the e-mail from a friend to his work account. He opened it the morning of Nov. 4, closed it when he realized it was inappropriate and deleted it, Troyer said.

Soon after, Troyer said, he got an e-mail from the airport’s dispatch supervisor asking if he meant to send the e-mail. Troyer said the message had been sent to eight airport e-mail addresses including one general account that is accessed by multiple people.

Troyer said he went to those who received the message who were at work and told them he didn’t send the message and asked them to delete it. A sergeant wrote a note to those not at work with the same information.

“I have nothing to hide,” Troyer said. “So I’m happy to turn anything over” to investigators.

Troyer said an airport computer technician found a virus on his computer and couldn’t find a record that the message had been sent from Troyer’s computer.

The cost and length of the investigation are uncertain, Brukardt said.

“We’d certainly want to move forward as quickly as possible,” Brukardt said.

Troyer, who has been the police chief since 1995, said he is innocent of anything related to the video. However, he apologized for three or four jokes he said he forwarded some time ago to an employee who sent them on to other staff members.

Troyer said those messages may have been offensive to some people.

“Common sense dictates that it was wrong,” Troyer said. “It was extremely bad judgment.”