Ex-employee alleged to have deleted township files

2005-10-31 12:25

http://www.starbeacon.com/?MC=NEWS&NID=1&AID=9477 By MARGIE TRAX PAGE Staff Writer mtrax @ starbeacon.com 10/30/2005 MADISON TOWNSHIP - The Madison Township Zoning Office is reeling after what Madison Township Police Chief Jerry Jenkins called "a malicious act by a township employee." Trustees confirmed a former assistant in the clerk-treasurer's office was the employee who allegedly entered Madison Township zoning inspector Valerie Leitch's office in July and purposely deleted programs and files from a township computer. Now considered an uncharged suspect in the case, the employee has resigned the position in the township office, without a reprimand. "This is not an employee of the trustees; this was an employee of the clerk-treasurer. And it would have been up to (Linda Blankenship) to reprimand her or fire (the employee)," Trustee Paul Brunner said. Link to: True North Auto Group In her written statement given to the police July 21, the employee wrote: "I am so sorry for what I did. I have had so many issues going on in my life that I am so stressed out - not to mention the egos and the tension that exists on the administrative side of Madison Township." The employee went on to say she erased five years of zoning files because Leitch "has never taken care of her computer system. She has had numerous virus(es). No matter what, apparently, she doesn't feel the need to update and back up her system." As a way to punish Leitch, the employee decided to delete the files herself, police reports show. Leitch said she was backing up her computer files as she was shown by the computer technician, but the system was not maintaining the files for an unknown reason. "Though five years' worth of files were lost, four years were recovered, and the fifth year was backed up with paper files and will need only to be re-entered into the computer database, Jenkins said. Advey, Leitch, Brunner and Jenkins all said they are not sure whether an audit of the employee's files will be ordered, as that would be the decision of the clerk-treasurer. The employee's duties included the management of payroll accounts, including her own payroll, and accounts payable, according to her job description. _________________________________________ InfoSec News v2.0 - Coming Soon! http://www.infosecnews.org

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