Auditor employee’s computer hard drive shows damage

OLYMPIA – The hard drive of a state worker’s laptop computer was damaged when he turned it over as part of a federal investigation involving Washington State Auditor Troy Kelley, but officials say there is no evidence of an intentional effort to destroy data.

According to documents provided to The Associated Press under a public records request, officials with the Auditor’s Office wrote that in late March they attempted to image a laptop assigned to Jason JeRue, a longtime business associate of Kelley who has emerged as a key figure in the investigation, but the back of the computer had been removed and replaced improperly.

Pete Donnell, the statewide technology audit manager for the office, wrote that he sent the laptop back to technology staff, but kept the damaged hard drive, from which he was able to recover data.

JeRue is a part-time technical writer who works from home in California. A federal grand jury subpoenaed the auditor’s office last month for his records, shortly before federal agents searched Kelley’s house in Tacoma. Federal authorities haven’t commented on the investigation.

Jan Jutte, the auditor’s director of operations, said Wednesday that JeRue had already intended to return his laptop because he said it wasn’t working, but noted she had also asked him to return it along with a desktop computer he had been assigned because of the subpoena that was issued in early March.

“I wanted to be able to verify that we got all of the work product that the feds wanted,” she said. “I wanted to see what was on those machines.”

Jutte said both computers were successfully imaged and no additional information was found other than what the agency had already turned over.

The hard drive remains in the possession of the auditor’s office. Asked whether federal authorities knew about the damage or had requested to see it, Jutte said only: “I have been very open and very cooperative with the federal government.”

Jutte didn’t have additional information on how the hard drive was damaged, but said it likely occurred because it wasn’t reinstalled properly.

Jutte said she didn’t believe the damage was intentional, but when asked if non-IT staff were allowed to remove hard drives from their agency computers, she responded: “That would not normally happen, no.”