Oconee Sheriff's Candidate Posts, Then Removes, County Credit Card Numbers
Snellville Police Sgt. Trey Downs says he posted sensitive financial information inadvertently with 600 pages of spending records from Sheriff Scott Berry's Office that he put online.
Oconee County Sheriff candidate Trey Downs says he immediately removed Sheriff's Office credit card statements from his campaign website and Facebook pages Thursday after learning they contained sensitive credit card and banking information.
Downs had posted the documents, which were obtained from the county Finance Department through an Open Records Act request, because he believes they illustrate a pattern of wasteful spending.
"Those are open to the public," said Downs, a Snellville Police sergeant. "They are backed by my and your tax dollars. We have a right to inspect those."
Sheriff Scott Berry said he learned of the issue when a citizen called him and accurately rattled off a complete credit number belonging of one of the two credit card accounts for the Sheriff's Office. The caller told Berry he had obtained the number from documents that were posted on Downs' campaign website and that the information was also on Downs' personal and campaign Facebook pages.
The approximately two years' worth of statements included copies of receipts containing at least one complete county bank account number, along with a couple of local businesses' bank account numbers and partial social security numbers of some Sheriff's Office employees, Berry said.
One complaint has since been filed by a citizen whose personal information appeared on the documents, he said.
The posting of the information on the Internet put the county at risk, he said.
"We notified the county governing authority -- [Finance Director] Jeff Benko -- and had to get new credit cards," he said. "We had to get [the old ones] canceled. We had to try to stop the bleeding and make sure those accounts weren't compromised."
No fraudulent activity had been noted on the accounts, Berry added.
Oconee Patch has left a message for Benko.
Berry noted the incident on his personal Facebook page, writing: "It seems to me that most anyone knows how foolish it is to post anyone's credit card numbers online. This subjects the Sheriff's Office and the taxpayers to unnecessary risk of identity theft."
"I didn't intentionally release any sensitive information," Downs explained. "I certainly didn't release any information to intentionally harm anyone. The information I released was simply placed out there basically so it could be for the public to view and form their own opinion about."
The county failed to redact all of the sensitive information that it should have before releasing the requested documents, Downs said. Still, he said he doesn't fault the Finance Department Office, calling it a "scrivener's error."
"They should have, but it was so obscure, that they were not negligent," Downs said. "You had to really look hard to find that number. And there were 600 pages of documents."
After realizing the sensitive information was included, Downs said he called the county's bank right away to report that some account numbers may have been compromised and promptly removed it from the sites.
Berry said regardless of whether the sensitive information was redacted by the county before being released, Downs should have noticed it.
"Quite frankly, he's an investigator, he's a peace officer, and he's a candidate. That's something that's blatantly obvious to anybody who does what we do for a living -- that you don't publish that kind of information," Berry said.
But Downs said that's not the bottom line.
"The bottom line is this," he said: "When you boil the fat off of this issue, it comes down to integrity, and the sheriff did not like my placing that public information online for public inspection. What he could have done is place it online himself and not be ashamed of those expenses."
Berry said, "It's not [about] the records. It's the fact that [Downs] published credit card and checking account numbers."
"It's an imaginative issue he's making of it being about an identity theft issue with Oconee County, purely for political gain," Downs argued. "I merely put the documents out there for public inspection because I think the citizens of Oconee County deserve to be informed. And I don't think that many citizens even knew that he had in his possession a card with a $10,000 spending limit on it that he can spend at his discretion with no oversight."
Downs said he is considering re-posting some of the information from the statements, like a receipt showing a $40 charge for room service, so citizens can decide for themselves if the transactions are necessary and fiscally responsible. But the documents would be carefully combed for possible sensitive information beforehand.
You might also be interested in:
Sheriff Berry Takes His Voluntary Pay Cut, After Fiscal Year Ends
Oconee County Sheriff Candidates Debate Methods of Enforcement
Oconee Sheriff's Candidates Take Shots at One Another's Experience
Police Investigator Eyes Oconee County Sheriff's Office
Berry Touts His Experience, Record as Oconee County Sheriff
Don’t miss any Oconee news. Subscribe to Oconee Patch’s free newsletter, like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.
Shawn
12:53 am on Friday, July 13, 2012
Gee, I hope Investigator Downs doesn't ""inadvertantly" release priveledged information about victims of crime! You would think someone that touts so much law enforcement experience would be a little more cautious with such sensitive material that not only included the private information of Deputies, but account numbers of local businesses and credit card numbers!
I would venture to say that had Mr Downs not chosen the "gotcha" campaign he has run, that this wouldn't have happened! Unfortunatly now, his attempt to try to slander his incumbant opponent has ended up costing the taxpayers of Oconee County untold amounts of money and manpower having to clean up his mess!
Racer X
8:27 am on Friday, July 13, 2012
Those documents are public record. Anyone can get them. In reality, this is an example of current administration shortfalls. In the report, account numbers should be X'd out except for the last four digits. The ones who dropped the ball here are the folks that prepared that report. It is unfathomable that these numbers even appear, in their entirety, in the report at all. Mr. Downs is obviously working hard to become Sheriff and shouldn't be expected to correct county errors whenever he posts public documents. Mr. Downs should be commended for pulling the information from the internet once he realized the county's mistake.
I think Sheriff Berry's "we had to try to stop the bleeding" comment was a bit sensational considering there has been no "bleeding" in the first place. Perhaps, as the current head of our County's law enforcement, he could have suggested the finance department encode account information on public documents long ago.
Lastly, in the County's defense, it takes a lot more than just an account number to compromise credit card and bank accounts. You also need credit card expiration dates and, often, the three digit code on the back of the card in order to actually make use of the information.
Stephanie Gross
4:31 pm on Friday, July 13, 2012
Also see: Oconee Finance Office Will Be More Careful with Open Records, Director Says http://oconee.patch.com/articles/s-05c4ec6a
Davy Crockett
6:56 pm on Friday, July 13, 2012
I looked over the documents on Trey Down's website (as an undecided voter) and I believe the credit card number is just a way Sheriff Berry can minimize the FACT that he CLEARLY and FREQUENTLY practices WASTEFUL spending! Room service? I missed that one, but did see a near $700 hotel bill in Atlanta for the sheriff for a three day stay that included almost a $100 in valet parking fees and a$100 in phone and internet fees! I'm sure the county provides Berry with a car to travel back and forth with as well as a phone to make calls from. So WHY would he need to spend $700 in tax payer money just to stay in Atlanta? 45 minutes down the road?? There were numerous other "questionable" charges on the bills but I saw enough to know Berry was not getting my vote. He just does not make good sense...of course that only my opinion but i feel its factually backed. I encourage all voters to look closely at Berry and Downs both and make a decision like I have.
Lil Miss Miller
10:27 pm on Friday, July 13, 2012
When you put something online, YOU are responsible for it! The individual repsonsible is the one that posted 600 pages of information without even bothering to inspect it! Why?? If it was so important, why wouldn't he inspect it so he could articulate WHAT is important? Even better, Why wouldn't one look over the information and ASK Sheriff Berry for a sit down meeting so that the spending of a particular amount could be explained? This has become an expensive mess for the county to clean up because one candidate has failed to actually research! It is apparant that he is throwing anything and everything he can that might stick to the incumbant, because his efforts to tell people why he is the better candidate has failed!
I won't try to convince anybody that I am an undecided voter!
I am proud to say that I support Scott Berry for Sheriff
Racer X
7:40 am on Saturday, July 14, 2012
Actually, when you have a credit card, YOU are responsible for not letting anyone get the number and YOU are foolish if you include the number in a PUBLIC report. Public reports appear on the internet ALL the time and, for credibility's sake, should NOT be edited by the poster. That would be altering a PUBLIC report, which when done by a candidate for office, could appear to be misleading.
Second, bad guys need more information to use a credit card than just the number. Third, issuing new credit cards costs nothing and takes very little time.
Lastly, given that none of the information has caused, to date, any breach, it is NOT "an expensive mess for the county to clean up".
As far as requesting a meeting with Sheriff Berry, I have personally called his office three times over the past couple of years to discuss issues in the County, have always had to leave a message on a machine and have never had a return call from ANYONE in his office.
James T.
8:31 pm on Tuesday, July 17, 2012
Lets not forget that in addition to being sheriff, Scott Berry is also the president of the Geoegia Sheriff's Association
Member Governor's Criminal Justice Coordinating Council
Voting member of the Georgia POST Council
Past Chairman of the Georgia Regional All Hazards Council
Trustee of the Georgia Sheriff's Association Retirement Fund
Graduate of the National Sheriff's Institute
Vice-Chair Georgia Sheriff's Association Legislative Committee
Member of the Georgia Sheriff's Youth Homes Board of Directors
Member of the Oconee County Child Abuse Protocol Committee
Instructor at the Northeast Georgia Police Academy
Instructor, Basic Jail Officer School
Instructor for the Association of Public Safety Communications Officials
Guest Instructor for the UGA Pharmacy School
Guest Instructor for the UGA Grady School of Journalism
Past Chairman of the GA Sheriff's Association Training & Standards Committee
Past Chairman of Northeast Georgia Regional Police Academy Advisory Board
How can he be a working sheriff when he is in downtown Atlanta every other week in meetings for all the other boards he sits on? He is obviously spending thousands in gas and travel expensive like hotels and room service for these trips to Atlanta.
Doesn't the GA sheriff's association reimburse him for his travel and expenses as its president? I sure hope he isn't double dipping becuase that would be a federal felony each time he does it.