Federal Search Warrant Executed at County Building, Russell Home
Federal investigators carried out a search warrant May 3 at two locations in Geauga County — the Water Resources Department on Ravenwood Drive and the Russell Township home of an information technology contractor who provides services to the department, according to multiple county officials familiar with the investigation.
Federal investigators carried out a search warrant May 3 at two locations in Geauga County — the Water Resources Department on Ravenwood Drive and the Russell Township home of an information technology contractor who provides services to the department, according to multiple county officials familiar with the investigation.
A third search warrant was executed at the contractor’s offices in Mentor.
The FBI and U.S. Secret Service — whose remit includes safeguarding the nation’s financial infrastructure and payment systems — searched the office of GCDWR Network Administrator Mike Kurzinger and the Watt Road home of IT contractor Joe Camino, who owns CSJ Technologies Inc. in Mentor.
The Geauga County Sheriff’s Office and Russell Township Police Department assisted with the searches.
“No arrests were made and no charges have been filed at this time,” Geauga County Prosecutor Jim Flaiz said in a statement. “There will be no further comment as this is an ongoing investigation related to individuals having an unlawful interest in a public contract.”
During the course of the search, an FBI agent told media gathered inside the county office building the agents did not want any photographs taken.
The warrant appears unrelated to an April 12 ransomware attack on the GCDWR exchange server that originated in Russia. Kurzinger and Camino were questioned over the circumstances leading to the hack at an emergency Geauga County Automatic Data Processing board meeting April 13.
At an April 17 emergency meeting, GCDWR relinquished authority over its IT systems to the county ADP board.
County Administrator Gerry Morgan praised the pair in an email interview April 23, saying they were both competent and had been subjected to unfair treatment by ADP board members, especially Geauga County Auditor Chuck Walder and Flaiz.
Both were questioned over the status of the ransomed email server, which Kurzinger said had not been updated with the most recent security patch from Microsoft.
In a phone interview May 3, Geauga County Commissioner Jim Dvorak said, in the interest of transparency, he hopes agents find what they are looking for.
“Most of the time, when you see these guys come in, they have probable cause,” he said. “If people have done something illegal, let the chips fall.”
