Kyle Cockream, former Public Transportation Commission (PTC) chief has had several fishy things surrounding his own time in the PTC and working with the taxi cab companies.
Curious & Curiouser
Last year, journalists looked into the PTC using taxi cab and limo companies crackdown on Lyft and Uber drivers in the Tampa area. The person who headed these crackdowns was former PTC chief Kyle Cockream. As the investigation continued well into legal obligations, Cockream resigned. Yet the most interesting thing within the investigation was when they discovered several cellphones from staff members and Cockream's two phones were completely wiped clean using a factory reset.
Kyle Cockream was ordered by a Judge to hand over his phone and the public records between him and the companies he was in contact with. While his phone had been reset, data analysts have been successful in obtaining some contact information such as phone calls dating back to Sept. 2 of last year. But as for emails and text messages, those have been long gone as long as Cockream has been able to hold onto his phone.
Fork it over
While forensic investigators have been unsuccessful in extracting messages and emails from the phones that have been reset and wiped clean, Cockream does have access to an online account that contains the erased information. Since it is still considered public records, some officials are interested in looking into the online information if Kyle Cockream hands over the information used to access what has been stored through a computer.
Cockream's attorney stated to a judge in a hearing his month to give his client more time to comply with the order, but people in the legal system have had enough. A judge ordered Cockream hand over the information to the forensic investigator to look into the online information from Sept. 2 and onward, which everything after Sept.
2 had been erased from the phones, and to appear in front of a Sarasota law firm to be deposed. Yet another judge reversed the part of the court order to hand over the online account information to the forensic investigator because the attorney was not notified of the earlier hearing.
The prosecutors for the Cockream trial will argue that he handled public records illegally and that the erasing of the evidence between the companies and Cockream shows that there was something to hide. But what we will never know is how much information was exchanged or did the cab company managers do the same thing to cover up their tracks.
