A break in the timeline of the missing emails case in the Johnson County Assessor’s Office. At the Johnson County Commissioners meeting on October 16th, the County’s I.T. specialist, Don Devore stated that he was notified of missing emails on August 27, 2018. Devore stated that he checked for those emails on the 27th and they had already been purged from the system. Devore had previously stated that emails remain in the system for 14 days after being deleted. So based on that timeline, the emails were deleted prior to August 13th. Deb Robinson stated that she resigned from her position on August 15th, so based on this timeline the emails were deleted before Deb Robinson left her position as the receptionist for the Assessor’s Office.
Background:
On August 15th, the receptionist for the Johnson County Assessor’s Office, Deb Robinson resigned from her position.
On August 27th, the Johnson County Assessor’s office noticed some emails had been deleted from a computer used by the receptionist. On that same day, the computer in question had been checked by I.T. and determined that the emails had already been purged from the system. Emails are purged from their particular system 14 days after being deleted.
At the October 16th Commissioners meeting, Deb Robinson requested an investigation into the matter. The Commissioners voted to open an outside investigation to determine what happened to the emails in question.
The Problem:
It is against policy to delete any emails from a Johnson County Assessor’s Office computer. There isn’t one specific email that is being sought, nor is it believed that any emails lost are incriminating. The issue is that someone illegally deleted emails that are protected by the Freedom of Information Act.
The Freedom of Information Act generally provides that any person has the right to request access to federal agency records or information; except to the extent the records are protected from disclosure by any of nine exemptions contained in the law or by one of three special law enforcement record exclusions.
