Pensioners' data breached 13,000 state police and fire retirees at risk after ex-employee took info

James Nash

Aug. 30, 2008 (McClatchy-Tribune Regional News delivered by Newstex) -- About 13,000 retired Ohio police officers and firefighters were told this week that their home addresses and Social Security numbers had been improperly forwarded from their pension system office.

A former mailroom supervisor at the Ohio Police and Fire Pension System forwarded the names, addresses and Social Security numbers from his work e-mail address to his personal e-mail address before quitting his job Aug. 15, pension officials said yesterday.

Pension officials said there's no reason to think that the ex-employee, 56-year-old Richard A. Conway, is misusing the information or forwarding it to others. Still, they said, police and fire retirees are being asked to monitor their financial accounts just in case.

"We just don't believe that there was malicious intent for personal gain, but he did violate our policies by taking this information out of the building," said William Estabrook, executive director of the pension system.

On Aug. 18, Estabrook sent Conway a certified letter in which he asked the former employee to state in writing that he would not use the forwarded information for any purpose, including charitable solicitations.

Conway did not respond by the Aug. 22 deadline, Estabrook said.

The matter was turned over to Columbus police yesterday, he said.

Conway could not be reached for comment.

The file contains information for 13,000 of the approximately 24,000 retired members of the Ohio Police and Fire Pension System, most of whom are former police officers, pension spokesman Dave Graham said.

The data is limited to names, addresses and Social Security numbers; no financial information is in the file, he said.

Pension officials discovered the breach when they noticed an unusually large file attachment from Conway's state e-mail account to what appeared to be a personal address, Graham said.

Conway has assured an attorney for the pension system that he has no intention of misusing the data, but he would not put that into writing, pension officials said.

jnash@dispatch.com

Newstex ID: KRTB-0147-27781622