Software erased Rowan’s files – Tbo.com
Published: September 18, 2011
AVON PARK - The software supposedly used to remove a virus from the work computer of Avon Park Police Chief Mike Rowan "is not a virus removal or protection program," according to an administrative investigation report by the Polk County Sheriff's Office.
In his report on Tuesday, Chief Steve Lester of the Polk County sheriff's Administrative Investigative Section said Eraser "is an overwriting program and its purpose is to mask latent information on a computer with nonsense values to make it irretrievable.
"As described in an online advertisement," Lester continued, "when you delete files from our PC using Windows Recycle Bin, they don't really go away entirely. Instead, Windows just marks the files as erased and hides them from view until you eventually fill that drive space with something else. If you want to make sure your data is gone for good, use Eraser, a free file deletion utility that uses (Department of Defense)-grade algorithms to repeatedly overwrite your deleted data until it's practically unrecoverable."
The Polk County investigation began in late May after City Manager Julian Deleon, Mayor Sharon Schuler, Deputy Mayor Brenda Gray, City Project Manager Maria Sutherland, and Councilmen Parke Sutherland and Terry Heston filed complaints against Rowan in April and May. Deleon forwarded the complaints to Highlands County Sheriff Susan Benton and asked her to conduct an internal investigation.
Benton asked Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd to investigate.
Based on Polk County sheriff's Sgt. Glenn Farrell's administrative investigation, which showed that Rowan's "computer hard drive was purposely wiped (data overwritten) with a program that is designed for that purpose," Polk County authorities recommended that that state attorney's office conduct a criminal investigation into the computer-related activities.
Avon Park police Cmdr. Jason Lister reportedly told Mike Ivancevich, an investigator for the Tenth Judicial Circuit of the State Attorney's Office, during his criminal investigation, that Rowan had instructed him to clean a virus off Rowan's work computer.
On Aug. 19, Ivancevich concluded that although Rowan violated a city policy by having personal items on a city-owned computer, there is no evidence to show that Rowan violated any law.
"It cannot be proved that Chief Rowan violated public records laws by asking a fellow officer to cleanup his computer of unwanted (deleted) information," Ivancevich wrote. "The chief described the information as being personal in nature and there is no evidence to contradict that assertion."
Eraser was installed on Rowan's computer on April 14, and downloaded and removed on April 15, Lester wrote.
On April 13, Avon Park City Manager Julian Deleon sent Rowan a memo saying the chief had "previously stated that there were recordings that would demonstrate that city officials were engaged in misconduct.
"The prior evening (April 12)," Lester's report continued, Rowan told Deleon "that there were no direct recordings or documentation against city officials."
Deleon reportedly asked Rowan to turn over any information on alleged misconduct to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement or the state attorney's office and "sought to dispel worry Rowan apparently had over the security of his employment."
But on Aug. 25, State Attorney Jerry Hill sent Rowan a stinging letter of rebuke. Ivancevich's investigation, Hill said, uncovered "a pattern of conduct on your part that I find troubling.
"I reluctantly conclude that the pattern of conduct you have engaged in between January 2010 and present shows that you have failed to maintain the standards set for your own agency, and moreover, your conduct casts doubt on your credibility and reliability as a witness in criminal proceedings," Hill wrote. "I will direct my assistants that you will no longer be relied on to give testimony as a witness in criminal prosecutions in the Tenth Judicial Circuit."
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In interviews with Polk County sheriff's investigators on April 14 and 15, Rowan said although he "informed Commander (Jason) Lister prior to this date that he was having problems with his computer and needed Lister to fix it or wipe it … he never told Lister to put a program on his computer that would permanently delete anything."Rowan said he "advised that he did not relate to Lister that he wanted anything removed or deleted and does not know why Lister would say that."
Lister supposedly told Deleon "that at Rowan's direction, he spent an entire day around this time cleaning up Rowan's city-owned computer.
"Lister advised Julian (Deleon) that when Rowan told him he wanted his computer 'wiped' due to slow performance, Lister advised Rowan that they could run a diagnostic on the computer and get it up and running without 'wiping' it," Lester continued. "Rowan gave him specific instructions to wipe it."
The April interviews with Polk County authorities came days before Deleon put Rowan on paid administrative leave on April 19 and stripped the chief of his pay in mid-June, when Rowan filed a lawsuit against the city that seeks reinstatement and damages.
In a Sept. 7 interview at the Avon Park Police Department, Lister reportedly told Lester and another investigator that Rowan told him "that there were things that he had deleted from his computer and wanted to make sure that they would be permanently gotten rid of."
Also on Sept. 7, Avon Park police Lt. John King told the Polk County investigators "that he recalled that Chief Rowan told Lister to fix his computer and indicated that he wanted to remove personal items."
rboyer@highlandstoday.com (863) 386-5838
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