A systems analyst who blew the whistle on a security breach that allowed Weld County jail inmates to access county employee financial records contends he was fired in retaliation.
William F. King of Greeley worked for Affiliated Computer Services, a company that maintained computer systems for the Weld County jail, according to a lawsuit that was filed Monday in U.S. District Court in Denver.
King is suing Affiliated, contending he was disciplined and ultimately fired because he told the Weld County sheriff and a reporter about the problems.
In a response to the complaint, Affiliated officials denied King’s claims that he brought the problems to light internally and denied he was disciplined because he talked to sheriff’s officials and the news media.
The problems surfaced in October 2004, when a jail employee reported that inmates were communicating with each other through the jail’s law-library computers, according to the lawsuit, which originally was filed in Weld County last month but was moved to federal court.
King said computer personnel thought they fixed the breach, but then King found that inmate users still had improper access.
He said he reported the continuing problem and after his managers failed to respond, King went to Paula Woodward, a 9News reporter, the lawsuit said.
Between Oct. 11 and 22, Woodward spoke to Weld County Sheriff John Cooke and Affilated’s management, according to the lawsuit. The company claimed such a breach was impossible even though company officials knew it had occurred, the lawsuit said.
Staff writer Alicia Caldwell can be reached at 303-820-1930 or acaldwell@denverpost.com.
