NOVEMBER 20, 2013
Grand Jury Indicts Former Sheriff’s Office Technology Supervisor on Computer Access Abuse Charges
Top Technology Expert Accused of Computer Tampering and Criminal History Information Hacking
PHOENIX – A Maricopa County Grand Jury indicted former Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office Telecommunications Director Robert Rampy late last Friday on 14 assorted Class 2, 4, 5 and 6 felony charges.
The indictment alleged Rampy wrongfully released/accessed criminal history records, committed computer tampering on the Sheriff’s Office information system and committed felony identity theft.
Rampy was employed by the Sheriff’s Office in the technology division from 2005 to 2012.
Rampy’s illegal activities involving the law enforcement data base occurred between September 3, 2012 and January 10, 2013. All of the illegal access and tampering took place after Rampy resigned from the Sheriff’s Office and applied to be Director of the county-wide Integrated Criminal Justice Information System, a position he was not selected to fill. The computer hacking and criminal history abuses closely followed his unsuccessful job bid.
The Sheriff’s Office Internal Affairs Criminal Investigations Section made the initial discovery of Rampy’s misuse and tampering with the data system. Their quick discovery of Rampy’s unauthorized intrusions prevented any interruption or damage to the law enforcement information network.
Computer crime specialists from the Sheriff’s Office, Federal Bureau of Investigation and Sheriff Arpaio’s Internal Affairs criminal investigations participated in the investigation.
Sheriff Arpaio commented he was appreciative of his detective’s fine work to get to the bottom of this computer tampering case and he was extremely disappointed by the apparent actions of a once valued employee.
