TAVARES, Fla.—The top computer tech in the Lake County Sheriff's Department has resigned during an ongoing investigation into why porn files were regularly cleaned out of a deputy's work computer without notifying officials.
IT director Alex Patton quit his job Friday, the day after Lt. Nick Pallitto resigned in the face of being disciplined over thousands of pornographic files found on his PC last month.
According to The Daily Commercial, Patton had been told various times by his employees about the deputy's porn files.
"We're trying to figure out why nothing was said or done," said Capt. Todd Luce, a department spokesman.
The internal investigation report on Pallitto was launched in mid-July after an IT technician told Sheriff Gary Borders that the computer network at the Clermont substation was slow. The tech, Jesse James, reported having to remove multiple viruses caused, he claimed, by viewing adult websites.
The same tech claimed Pallitto's computer had a history of porn files that caused problems going back to at least 2007. In fact, he was given a new computer and the same troubles continued, due to surfing for porn that downloaded malicious material, the tech said.
Eventually, the sheriff's office sent Pallitto's computer to the Gainesville Police Department for scanning and some 5,619 image files and 135 video files were found that were referred to in a report as "inappropriate."
Pallitto, a 23-year department veteran who made captain, was demoted when Sheriff Borders took over the Lake County position from Sheriff Chris Daniels.
