Document: Former district clerk employee downloaded and deleted sensitive information
A former employee with the district clerk’s office allegedly downloaded and deleted sensitive case and employee information, a criminal complaint states.
Last week, sheriff’s deputies arrested 32-year-old Stephanie Damian and charged her with tampering with government records.
The complaint affidavit states District Clerk Norma Favela is “very concerned about current and previous employee information (including social security numbers) that were downloaded and taken from the office.”
The document states Damian was the office manager for the district clerk’s Criminal Division and had sensitive data, including indictments, criminal cases, jail magistrate documents and search warrants, stored in her computer.
Investigators said Damian had been the subject of an administrative investigation and had been notified she was going to be terminated. On Friday, January 26, 2018, Damian allegedly downloaded nine gigabytes of sensitive information from her office computer onto a USB drive and then deleted everything on her computer, investigators said.
Damian’s actions were allegedly captured by a surveillance camera. “After downloading the data onto a USB drive, (Damian) removed the drive from her computer and put it in her desk drawer,” the document further states.
After an internal investigation, Damian was fired on Monday, January 29, 2018. An analyst with the district clerk’s office was able to recover the information allegedly deleted by Damian, the court document states.
A warrant for Damian’s arrest was issued on Tuesday, February 13, 2018. Deputies were assigned to execute the warrant and were unable to locate Damian until February 22, 2018. Damian was booked into the El Paso County Detention Facility with a $5,000 bond.
