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This story first appeared in the February/March Issue of the Zephyr. We’re reprinting it here, in smaller sections, to make it easier for our readers to absorb the information.
NOTE: In preparing this article about Moab’s city manager Rebecca Davidson, the Moab City Council’s actions re: Ms. Davidson and the subsequent “restructuring” of Moab government, The Zephyr sought information from a variety of sources. We filed Freedom of Information Act requests, via the Wyoming Sunshine Laws, with the City of Kemmerer, Wyoming and the Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation. We filed a Government Records Access request (GRAMA) with the City of Moab, and we conducted interviews with numerous people personally involved in the issues raised here. We also contacted reporter Trevor Hughes, now of USA Today, who wrote a comprehensive article about the current Moab City manager’s tenure as city manager in Timnath, Colorado.
On January 11, we sent 15 questions to city manager Rebecca Davidson, in an effort to “clarify and resolve” issues raised in this article. She did not respond (Those questions are available to the reader elsewhere in this issue). Finally, we contacted the Moab City Attorney, Christopher McAnany, to seek clarification on the process used to fulfill our GRAMA request with Moab City. His January 24 response, which he noted was, “in lieu of any further response from Ms. Davidson,” is included elsewhere in this issue, and excerpted later in this article. Finally, we offer the City of Moab the opportunity to reply. But please note that all correspondence with this publication will be regarded as ‘on the record.’…JS
TARA SMELT & DARWIN PARKER
(EDITOR’S NOTE: The Zephyr recently sent a Freedom of Information Act request for documents related to the following part of the story, and at post time, we are just now receiving those documents. We will expand on the computer hacking incident that occurred in Kemmerer in mid-November 2014 as information reaches us…JS)
In March 2014, Davidson hired Tara Smelt to replace Lasik and gave Smelt the title South Lincoln Training and Event Center Director. According to the Kemmerer Gazette, Smelt, from Rochester, NY, found the job announcement online and applied for the job. Six months later, Davidson promoted Smelt to be the Director of Communications and Events.
Darwin Parker was hired by Lincoln County, Wyoming as an IT Support Technician in August, 2012. In March, 2014, he signed a contract with the city of Kemmerer to oversee their IT needs as well. Parker worked on the city’s computers until the end of October, returning once to the City offices on November 15th, 2014 to explain the systems and pass information to the new IT personnel and then again after Thanksgiving to fix an internet connection issue in the Event Center. While he moved on from his involvement with the city, and continued his work with Lincoln County, he had no reason to guess that, by February of 2015, he too would be the subject of a criminal investigation by the Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation.
The purpose of the DCI investigation, according to public records obtained through a FOIA request, was to investigate “Suspected unauthorized access to Kemmerer computer systems in January 2015” by Parker, though the investigation covered events that began in November.
On November 14th, according to statements by Tara Smelt to the Wyoming DCI, the City of Kemmerer brought in their new IT consultant, Erika Goodman, who looked over the computers, “plugged some holes and changed firewall rules.” According to Smelt, the “assessment was completed and everything was running normal.”
On November 15th, however, Erika Goodman contacted fellow IT consultant Niyo Pearson with concerns about the safety of the network. According to Pearson, she claimed that whenever she tried to change the firewall password, the firewall software would reset back to the original password.
On November 17th, Pearson “advised Goodman to let the City of Kemmerer administrators know they had a current or prior insider threat intrusion along with a foreign country intrusion. He advised [them] that they need a full network rework. He also advised them to contact the FBI immediately…” The DCI report doesn’t explain why Pearson thought there was a “foreign country intrusion” or why he felt they should involve the FBI.
In December, Pearson and Goodman returned and examined the city’s computers, removing TeamViewer–the remote viewing software Darwin Parker had used as the City’s IT consultant–and hardening the firewall. And yet, when city employees complained again of problems with their computers in January, Pearson and Goodman continued to find TeamViewer on a number of computers, including the computer of the Police Chief and the main Police Department computer. The investigation report doesn’t explain whether they had failed to remove TeamViewer from those computers in December, or, if it had been removed, how the software might have been re-installed–especially given that Parker had no physical involvement with the city’s computers during that time.
Pearson, in his interview, went so far as to suggest that the TeamViewer connections were related to a mysterious parked car at the Event Center in January. He told DCI investigators that, “he noticed a sedan pulled up in front of city hall, and it sat there for five minutes watching him work before leaving.” But Pearson could not identify the vehicle, “due to vehicle lights shining in the center,” and though Tara Smelt reported a break in the next evening, there were no signs of forced entry and Chief Buck reported that all known city/county equipment “was accounted for.”
Darwin Parker was interviewed by DCI agents on February 25th. He was given a Miranda warning, and was represented by an attorney at the interview. He explained to the agents how TeamViewer software worked–that it was like a chat program, which showed you a list of all of your contacts, and whether they were online, so that you could choose to communicate with them by clicking their name. All the computers with the software would be communicating with each other whenever they were online, but that didn’t mean someone had actually connected to another computer. He told them to check the log files of the software to see whether any computer had “connected.”
The investigation report ends with the notes of the investigating officer, who states that Darwin Parker had emailed them after his interview. According to the agent, the email explained, “PARKER realized he still had the Kemmerer PD computers saved as favorites with his TeamViewer login and deleted them from the account. He related [that] when logged into TeamViewer he received notifications of computers available for connected but [he] denied connection to [the available computers] and if there was a connection that Kemmerer computers would have a log of connections.”
The DCI investigation ends with Darwin’s statement and it appears the agency found no evidence of criminal activity. The report concludes, “Case Closed. DA declined Prosecution.” The city terminated its agreement with Parker but he continues to provide IT services for Lincoln County as an IT support technician.There is no further explanation of what might have caused all the computer problems, or what the “foreign intrusion” might have been.
(NOTE: A year later, after Davidson moved to Moab and initiated efforts to beef up that city’s IT security, City Recorder Stenta referred to the incident in Kemmerer twice in city emails and recalled that Davidson “recommended an IT consultant that she had utilized previously to help with a government system had been hacked into by China.” There was no reference whatsoever to an “internal threat.”
Also, according to Kemmerer City Recorder Glenda Young, “Niyo’s (Pearson) services were terminated on June 16, 2015, and we have not used nor talked to him since.”)
Coming in Part 7: COMING TO MOAB & TAYO, INC.
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