Dave's Dumpster
Shaver apologizes for client files placed in refuse container
By DAVID S. OWEN
Pickerington Mayor David Shaver said he believed documents in boxes placed in and adjacent to a large refuse container behind the former office of his law firm July 8 were not of a sensitive nature or client-related, but rather his own personal documents.
''The records that were put out there were supposed to be my own personal records and if some client materials mistakenly got put out there by the people helping me move, I offer my apology,'' Shaver said.
According to reports none of the documents left behind in the refuse container was believed to have been stolen by anyone so the risk of any possible client-related material falling into the wrong hands is low, Shaver said.
Shaver said the documents were subsequently removed by the refuse hauling company and he is sorry the situation occurred.
July 11 it was reported possible client-related documents belonging to Shaver's law firm, Shaver and Associates Inc., were left in and around an unsecured refuse container July 8 behind Shaver's former office, 27 W. Columbus St., in Olde Pickerington Village.
For the past 3 to 4 months Shaver had been moving his office along with related documents and materials to a new location at 647 Hill Road N.
The new owner of the West Columbus Street office building, who took over ownership July 2 and requested to not be identified, said she had repeatedly requested the remaining documents belonging to Shaver's law firm be removed from the detached garage of the facility as soon as possible.
She said July 8 Shaver and some kids came to the office and used the refuse container to throw away documents. She said after they left she discovered some of them contained client information.
She said some documents in the dumpster had sensitive information in them such as client names, Social Security numbers, financial account numbers and medical information.
''Myself, the real estate company and the former owner contacted David Shaver about the documents which were left unsecured in the detached garage behind the office,'' she said.
She said the refuse container was overflowing and some boxes were sitting beside the dumpster.
According to Shaver he had spent the last 3 to 4 months hauling items and documents from his former office to his new office, two truck loads of which were important client information.
Shaver said he certainly would never intentionally have left sensitive documents outside in a refuse container , and the fact that some were left there was a mistake.
''What I thought was being thrown away and put out there were my own old personal financial records and evidently a box or boxes with client records in them must have inadvertently got put out there,'' Shaver said.
''Unfortunately the people who found the documents never bothered to call me first, but called the local news media instead,'' he said.
The new owner of the office building said she was not the person who alerted the media about the incident and said she did not know who did.
