Citing insufficient evidence that a criminal case can be proven, the District Attorney’s Office has declined to file a criminal complaint in connection with thousands of emails stolen from a computer belonging to former Imperial Irrigation District Director John Pierre Menvielle.
Additionally, Menvielle is intimating that the district is sweeping the matter under the rug.
“According to the ethical standards of a DA, we only file cases we can prove beyond a reasonable doubt,” Imperial County Assistant District Attorney Deborah Owen said.
The issue first came to light in late 2011, when internal Imperial Irrigation District emails began appearing in local media. Detractors of the IID Board of Directors, and Menvielle specifically, used the emails to accuse IID officials of making decisions out of the public eye. Some of the emails were read aloud by Northend farmer Mike Morgan and IID critics at open meetings.
The district hired ESI International Inc. in May 2012 to investigate the matter, according to a statement from the IID.
After interviewing about 18 current and former IID officials and examining hundreds of gigabytes of IID computer data, ESI concluded that an IID employee gained possession of Menvielle’s laptop under the false pretense that it had reached the end of its useful life and needed to be replaced. This employee apparently created backup copies of Menvielle’s emails and duplicated them to external storage, ESI concluded.
“It’s very unfortunate that they came to that decision, because my emails were stolen by the only IID employee that had access to my computer in the eight years I was there,” Menvielle said when reached by telephone. He would not say who that employee is.
Speaking at a Board of Directors meeting in November, IID Assistant Counsel Vance Taylor said he had contacts with the Attorney General’s Office, and that they expressed interest in the case should the local DA decline to move forward.
It is not clear, however, if the IID will forward the matter to the Attorney General’s Office. Taylor did not comment on the matter when reached by telephone.
Also, there may be resistance by the new Board of Directors to pursue the matter further.
Speaking at the same board meeting in November, Bruce Kuhn — who at that point would not be sworn in as IID director until Dec. 7 — warned the district that it might not be in its interest to pursue the matter further.
He said Wednesday that he still feels that the IID should drop the matter.
When asked if the district planned to pursue the matter further, General Manager Kevin Kelley said that it’s “still being handled by Mr. Taylor, and that it remains a personnel matter.” He did not elaborate.
Directors Matt Dessert and Jim Hanks could not be reached for comment.
Furthermore, Menvielle said that instead of disciplining the employee who allegedly stole the emails, Kelley fired this employee’s boss.
“The investigative report points out that this employee stole the emails from my computer, and instead of the general manager doing the right thing and disciplining the employee who stole my emails, he fires the employee’s boss,” Menvielle said.
In an IID memorandum by Kelley dated Jan. 17, he states the Information Technology and Telecommunications and Business Process Improvement departments will be consolidated, with “Dane Vaughn, who has been CIO (Chief Information Officer), leaving IID to pursue other interests.”
This organizational change is effective Feb. 1.
Kelley did not respond to Menvielle’s allegation. He said, however, that the district’s IT department has been a cause of concern for him for a while, and that consolidating the IT and telecommunications departments gives the district its best chance at success.
“We were constantly having to run investigations,” Kelley said when asked what, at the IT department, had him concerned.
“The question is, do you look backwards or forwards?” he added. “I see no value in picking at a matter that law enforcement has declined to pursue.”
Staff Writer Antoine Abou-Diwan can be reached at 760-337-3454 or aabou-diwan@ivpressonline.com
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