Phoenix man denies stealing election center security keys

PHOENIX (CN) — A man seen on security footage stealing security keys from a Maricopa County elections center appeared in court for the first time Tuesday morning.

Walter Ringfield, 27, was indicted July 1 on one charge of computer tampering after he was arrested at his home a week prior. Ringfield was working a temporary position at the county’s main election tabulation center when he was caught on camera stealing a lanyard off a desk on June 20. Attached to the lanyard was a security key and a magnetic key fob elections officials say were meant to access ballot tabulators.

The missing items were identified the next morning. Ringfield initially denied stealing them, according to a probable cause affidavit, but police soon found the lanyard and key in Ringfield’s car and the magnetic fob on his bedroom dresser. Ringfield told police that he didn’t mean to steal any items, and that he only wanted to clean up to make a good impression and upgrade his temporary job to a permanent one.

Because the fob was removed from a secure facility, all the security fobs and tablets connected to the ballot tabulators must be reprogrammed. Elections officials estimate the cost will be nearly $20,000.

“The secure operation of the facility is greatly impeded until the reprogramming is complete,” the affidavit reads.

Police found probable cause to charge Ringfield with theft and criminal damage, but a grand jury instead indicted him with computer tampering — a class 2 felony because the computers in question access a “critical infrastructure resource.” A class 2 felony can carry a prison sentence of 3 to 35 years.

Ringfield pleaded not guilty Tuesday morning at his arraignment in Maricopa County Superior Court. He no longer works for the elections department.

Before he was fired, Ringfield was tasked with assisting staff with logic and accuracy testing on the ballot tabulators, a spokesperson for the county elections department said after the arrest. Officials said in a press conference last week that the incident isn’t indicative of any potential fraud in upcoming elections, but that hasn’t stopped theories from brewing on social media, including some who say Ringfield was hired by the Democrats to steal the 2024 general election.

Ringfield faces a slew of other theft cases.

A month earlier, he was seen on surveillance video stealing $9,500 of jewelry off mannequins at the Phoenix Art Museum during a private event. Police say he was wearing a pocket watch taken from another exhibit in the museum. He was indicted on one count of theft.

In mid-June, before he stole the security fob, Arizona Senate staff reported challenge coins and other “desk accessories” missing from a security guard’s desk. Senate Republicans posted security footage to X showing Ringfield wandering restricted areas of the Senate building.

Senate Republicans said in another post that Ringfield told security he was an intern of one of the Democratic senators. Senate Democrats clarified that he was never employed by anyone at the capital.

He was indicted on one count of burglary and one count of trespassing.

He was also arrested at a Fry’s grocery store in 2023 for stealing more than $1,000 in cash while he was employed there. Surveillance footage shows him directly pocketing cash from customers over several transactions. Because he entered a diversion program, county elections officials say his criminal background wasn’t flagged when he was hired.

Ringfield’s next in-person hearing will be a complex case management conference on Sept. 30. His trial assignment date is Nov. 6. He has not yet been assigned a public defender.

The Maricopa County Elections Department didn’t respond to additional questions.

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