Investigators seize devices from Fountain Hills residence in voter data theft case

Law enforcement officials served a search warrant at the home of a Fountain Hills man and seized computers, hard drives and other storage devices as part of an investigation into voter data theft from the Maricopa County Recorder's Office website.

The property was seized Nov. 5.

The search warrant sought records relating to computer intrusion or conspiracy to commit computer intrusion from Oct. 21 through early November.

According to the warrant, investigators were looking for records, information and communications related to the office's:

• Login credentials and accounts.
• Voter registration records and information, including protected voters' information.
• The transfer, sharing or dissemination of voter registration records and information, including protected voters' information.
• Unauthorized access to the office's website and computer systems.
• Attempts or threats to damage computer systems.

The Maricopa County IT security staff identified the intrusion, according to Megan Gilbertson, spokesperson for the office.

"Analysis by county IT security staff indicates an unauthorized individual gathered publicly accessible voter information from the Maricopa County Recorder’s Office website. Additional security controls were put in place to mitigate against this activity occurring in the future," Gilbertson said in a statement.  

"The Maricopa County Recorder’s Office has reported this to proper authorities and law enforcement personnel, and there is an ongoing investigation by the FBI at this time. The county is cooperating with the investigation." Gilbertson said.

The property was seized from the residence of Elliot Kerwin, who identifies himself on LinkedIn as an information technology professional.

Kerwin could not immediately be reached for comment.

​The FBI did not confirm or deny the investigation and said the agency would have no further comment, according to a spokesperson.