The Metropolitan Police Department has recovered the information storage hard drive, or "brain," from the stolen Election Commission laptop computer that posed the greatest risk to Nashvillians.
The police department said in a press release that a preliminary examination of the hard drive by police department computer experts shows that it does contain the intact names and social security numbers of more than 335,000 Davidson County voters. The hard drive is the key component of any laptop or personal computer.
Election Commission staff came to police headquarters tonight, viewed the information stored on the seized hard drive, and confirmed that it is from the stolen computer that gave them the most concern.
Police department computer experts have begun the process of meticulously examining all of the files and data components on the hard drive to determine if they have been accessed or tampered with.
The ongoing investigation into the Christmas Eve burglary at the Election Commission led Central Precinct detectives to a location this afternoon from where the hard drive, a stolen computer router, and other computer components were seized. All of the electronic equipment, including other seized hard drives, will be analyzed. It is not yet known if any of the other computer components came from the second laptop stolen from the Election Commission. That computer was said by Election Commission staff to be seriously malfunctioning.
The location from where the evidence was found is not being publicly disclosed at present so as not to hamper the investigation. Central Precinct detectives continue to vigorously pursue leads in this case and expect to make additional arrests.
Robert Osbourne, who admitted to the burglary, was booked today and is being held in lieu of $80,000 bond.
Mayor Karl Dean has been closely following the progress of this investigation.
"This is great work on the part of our police," Dean said tonight. "I, and I'm sure every Davidson County voter, appreciate their focus on this investigation from day one. The offer of one year of free credit monitoring for those affected still stands. My focus going forward will continue to be on the security of Metro buildings and the sensitive data departments keep to ensure an incident like this doesn't happen again."