Ex-Vanderburgh assessor's office employee arrested, accused of breaching computer system
EVANSVILLE — A former employee for the Vanderburgh County Assessor's office was arrested Tuesday and accused of breaching its computer system.
Scott Michael Hunt, 51, was booked on two counts of offense against computer user, a Level 5 felony; one count of offense against intellectual property, a Level 6 felony; one Class A misdemeanor count of computer trespass; and one count criminal mischief, a Class A misdemeanor.
According to Hunt's arrest affidavit, investigators discovered text messages on his phone discussing the deletion of the assessor's GIS map, which shows every public tax parcel in the county. The person he was texting is only identified by a first name.
It reportedly cost the county a little more than $3,000 to fix the issue.
Assessor Bill Fluty said Hunt no longer works for the department, but deferred any further comment to County Attorney David Jones. Jones told the Courier & Press that the county didn't have any comment at this time, and that it's a "criminal matter" that will play out in court.
How the issue was discovered
According to investigators, Fluty and his chief deputy Cynthia Vaught were alerted by county residents of the assessor site not working back in January.
Fluty contacted the Vanderburgh County Sheriff's office Jan. 26 and said the IT department found that the map of tax parcels had been altered.
In the user logs, IT found user sessions related to the issue. The email address listed for that user was smhunt@vanderburghgov.org, the affidavit states.
Hunt worked for the IT department. Part of his job was monitoring the website. State records list him as "IT GIS supervisor."
In March, investigators executed a search warrant at Hunt's home and seized multiple electronics. Investigators eventually found evidence in Hunt's phone that they say support his involvement in the breach:
A search of the Vanderburgh GIS website on Dec. 31, 2022
An account with Private Internet Access, a company for VPN , or virtual private network
Perhaps most importantly, they also discovered text messages between Hunt and another person discussing the deletion of the office's GIS map.
Text messages
Around 9 p.m. on Dec. 31, 2022, Hunt sent a text message stating, "I gotta go silent for a bit. Quick trip to russia (sic)."
The breach of the assessor's site allegedly started a few minutes later. After it ended, Hunt's text thread with the same person began again.
"Don't give them your phone," he allegedly said. "Yep, just don't let ANYONE have your phone."
He later said, "I made stuff go away."
The thread picked up again a few days later. The person he was texting reportedly said "I forgot you made the map disappear until I got to work. It made me happy for a little."
"I regret doing it. Wish I would have just put some stuff about bill (sic) on the disclaimer page to see how long it would sit there until somebody found it," Hunt allegedly replied. "Still kind of worried they might try to pull some legal s*** on me."
"I mean, I was worried about that when you told me but I was also drinking and knew it wouldn't matter what I said," the person replied. "Can they prove it was you?"
"For all I know, somebody found my credentials written somewhere," Hunt reportedly wrote.
According to court records, Hunt was released from the Vanderburgh County jail after paying $1,000 cash bond on Tuesday. His initial hearing was scheduled for 1 p.m. Wednesday in Vanderburgh Circuit Court.
This article originally appeared on Evansville Courier & Press: Ex-Vanderburgh employee arrested, accused of deleting assessor map
