PHOENIX — Maricopa County election officials will reportedly need to spend thousands of dollars to reprogram security equipment after a theft at an election facility.
On June 20, surveillance cameras at the Maricopa County Board of Elections in downtown Phoenix captured an employee taking a “security fob” and keys from a desk and placing them in his pocket.
MCSO officials said of Tuesday's arrest:
MCSO speaks out about election worker accused of theft at Maricopa County facility
According to police documents, the employee was questioned about the alleged theft but denied taking the security fobs and keys.
Detectives went to the man's home the following day and found some of the keys in his car. He was arrested and told police he had been fired from his temporary job at the facility because “they thought he had stolen something.”
The individual then stated that he had taken these items to “clean up” in the hopes that it would lead to permanent employment. The security fob was not recovered.
The documents said the security fobs are meant to protect tablet devices during the election, and because the fobs were missing, the facility's equipment will have to be reprogrammed, a cost expected to be about $20,000 or more.
“Until the reprogramming is complete, the safe operation of the facility will be significantly impaired,” election officials told police.
The suspect was detained on charges of theft and criminal damage to property due to the cost of the work required to re-secure the facility.
MCSO says they have found no evidence to suggest the incident was politically motivated.
The Maricopa County Counting and Election Center released the following statement about the incident:
“The Maricopa County Board of Elections has notified law enforcement of an incident involving the alleged theft of items by a temporary election worker at the Maricopa County Counting and Election Center.
On Friday morning, Maricopa County elections officials were conducting their daily inventory when they discovered items had been stolen from the vote counting center on Thursday evening. Officials immediately began an investigation and contacted the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office. The stolen items have been recovered, but elections officials are in the process of reprogramming all equipment and rerunning logic and accuracy tests to ensure the integrity of Maricopa County elections.
As this matter is an ongoing criminal investigation, we cannot provide any further comment or details. For more information, please contact the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office Public Information Office.”