Probe led Fumo to boost security

As soon as the news broke that the FBI was investigating former State Sen. Vincent J. Fumo, his computer technicians stepped up security and became more vigilant about getting rid of his e-mails, one of the computer experts testified yesterday.

Testifying under a grant of immunity from prosecution, Donald Wilson told the jury in Fumo's federal corruption trial that he and another computer technician, Leonard Luchko, also used sophisticated software programs to permanently wipe out any traces of deleted e-mails.

Wilson said Fumo had already been concerned about computer security. When the Senate hired him in late 2001, Wilson said, he asked the senator what level of computer security was wanted.

"His response was something pertaining to the federal government," Wilson said. Fumo wanted a level of security that was "on par with the federal government," or that could "keep out" the government.

Wilson delivered his testimony as prosecutors moved to the final chapter of the indictment - allegations that Fumo obstructed the FBI inquiry by ordering his staff to destroy e-mail messages.

Federal prosecutors contend that it was impermissible for any e-mail to be destroyed once Fumo learned of the investigation.

Fumo, 65, who had been one of the most powerful Democrats in Philadelphia and in Harrisburg for decades before stepping down in November, also is charged with defrauding the Senate by getting employees to do personal and campaign work on Senate time, and with defrauding two nonprofits.

Wilson described personal and campaign work he did in addition to his computer work for Fumo, but he estimated that it totaled only about a day a month.

He said he set up computer games on one of Fumo's computers, installed weather-forecasting equipment at Fumo's home in Florida, and drove equipment, including luggage, to Martha's Vineyard, where Fumo vacationed.

Wilson, who worked with Luchko in Fumo's South Philadelphia office, said he had few conversations with Fumo, and that Luchko had more contact with the former senator.

Luchko, a key prosecution witness who pleaded guilty to obstructing justice, is expected to take the stand, perhaps as soon as today or early next week.

Under questioning by Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert A. Zauzmer, Wilson said that, after The Inquirer broke the news about the FBI investigation in an article published Jan. 25, 2004, he got an e-mail later that day from Luchko.

"The senator asked me to inform the staff that until further notice we will be stepping up security," Luchko said in the e-mail, which was also sent to other staffers with a copy to Fumo. That communication is now a government exhibit in the trial.

Luchko went on to tell the staff that all e-mail sent to Fumo should be sent in encrypted form; that staffers should refrain from sending sensitive information via their BlackBerrys; and that all BlackBerrys and laptops should be brought in so computer technicians could wipe them clean with the software programs.

The next day, Fumo sent an e-mail to Luchko and another computer technician, saying that "now that we are stepping up security" he would use a wiping program more often.

Wilson said the computer cleansing had been done long before 2004, but that after the investigation became public, they began running those programs more frequently.

During cross-examination, Fumo's lead defense attorney, Dennis J. Cogan, highlighted that Fumo was "security-conscious" long before The Inquirer article about the investigation.

He also tried to convey a more subtle point - that Fumo did not know that the investigation focused on his Senate activities until the FBI did a search of his Senate offices in early 2005. Cogan is expected to argue that all e-mails would have to be preserved only after the search was made.

Defense lawyer Edwin J. Jacobs Jr., who represents Fumo co-defendant Ruth Arnao, tried to show that there was nothing sinister about Fumo's zeal for security.

For one thing, he noted, a key e-mail stepping up security was sent to no fewer than 29 people, including some who didn't even work in Fumo's offices.

"None of it was secret," he said.