Commissioner's computer was 'wiped'

Investigators looking into Hollywood Commissioner Keith Wasserstrom's role in helping a company win an $18 million sludge-handling contract peeked into his computer in 2005 and saw nothing.

According to reports released this week, the Broward State Attorney's Office ordered a search of Wasserstrom's computer seeking any information about his alleged involvement in helping Schwing Bioset win the contract with the city.

But Wasserstrom's Maxtor 40GB hard-drive inside his law firm's computer was apparently wiped clean, according to a U.S. Treasury investigator who checked the computer on April 29, 2005.

"[Hard-drive] appeared wiped and does not contain any data," wrote the investigator, Jim Greene.

Paul Henry, senior vice president of Secure Computing, an international computer safety firm based in San Jose, Calif., said information could still be extracted even after a crash.

"When [the Treasury Department] says a hard-drive was wiped, it usually means a wiping utility program was used several times," he said.