On January 2nd, (2024) the Brush Police Department received a report from the Brush School District about a former employee, Scott Trautwein, of Fort Morgan, who was released from his position after it was discovered that he had been using his current role to gain access to other school district employee and former student’s personal social media accounts. The Brush PD started an investigation, as the school district’s main office was instrumental in vocalizing the desires of potential victims to continue to pursue this case.
The Brush School District took additional steps to enhance their cyber security following this incident. They mandated password changes, and redistributed managing of the critical systems to prevent any single person from having unilateral control and improved monitoring of video surveillance logs, ensuring transparency.
Over the past 7 months, the PD’s investigators worked with the Colorado Bureau of Investigation in identifying all potential victims, and if they wished to pursue charges. Nine of those victims chose prosecution. After the investigation, an arrest warrant was applied for with the 9 counts of Cyber Crime and 2 counts of Criminal Invasion of privacy being the charges sought.