By RACHEL LACORTE

The Associated Press

OLYMPIA (AP) —

The hard drive of a state worker’s laptop computer was damaged when he turned it over as part of a federal investigation involving state Auditor Troy Kelley, but officials say there is no evidence of an intentional effort to destroy data.

According to documents provided to The Associated Press under a public records request, officials with the Auditor’s Office wrote that in late March, they attempted to image a laptop assigned to Jason JeRue, a longtime business associate of Kelley who has emerged as a key figure in the investigation, but the back of the computer had been removed and replaced improperly.

Pete Donnell, the statewide technology audit manager for the office, wrote that he sent the laptop back to technology staff but kept the damaged hard drive, from which he was able to recover data.

JeRue is a part-time technical writer who works from home in California. A federal grand jury subpoenaed the Auditor’s Office last month for his records, shortly before federal agents searched Kelley’s house in Tacoma.

Federal authorities haven’t commented on the investigation.

Jan Jutte, the auditor’s director of operations, said Wednesday that JeRue had already intended to return his laptop because he said it wasn’t working but noted that she had also asked him to return it along with a desktop computer he had been assigned because of the subpoena that was issued in early March.

“I wanted to be able to verify that we got all of the work product that the feds wanted,” she said. “I wanted to see what was on those machines.”

Jutte said both computers were successfully imaged and that no additional information was found other than what the agency had already turned over.

Jutte said Donnell was looking for indications that things were altered or deleted after the date the agency received the subpoena but didn’t find any evidence that that had occurred.

“If he had, we would have restored and retrieved it,” she said.

The hard drive remains in the possession of the Auditor’s Office.

Asked whether federal authorities knew about the damage or had requested to see it, Jutte said only: “I have been very open and very cooperative with the federal government.”

Jutte didn’t have additional information on how the hard drive was damaged but said it sounded like it occurred because it wasn’t reinstalled properly.

She said that while it was an older laptop, it would have been deployed to JeRue with the hard drive inserted correctly.

Jutte said she didn’t believe the damage was intentional, but when asked if non-IT staff were allowed to remove their own hard drives from their agency computers, she responded: “That would not normally happen, no.”

Among the records the grand jury sought were any of JeRue’s emails that might relate to Post Closing Department, an escrow-services company that Kelley owned and for which JeRue worked.

The company was accused in a federal lawsuit of keeping $1.2 million that should have been refunded to a customer. Kelley denied those allegations but paid an undisclosed settlement.

Tax-fraud investigators have also sought records related to Kelley’s old business, and the FBI requested records of his expenses from the time he served as a state representative.

JeRue, who is on leave from the agency, has not responded to requests for comment.

Kelley has insisted that all of his own actions have been lawful and appropriate, but he has not responded to numerous interview requests from the AP and other news organizations.

Earlier this month, Gov. Jay Inslee invoked his constitutional authority to demand that Kelley answer several questions about the ongoing federal investigation, and Kelley responded in writing, telling the governor that the federal investigation isn’t affecting the work of the Auditor’s Office, which is tasked with identifying financial fraud and waste in government.