Staff writer
sbeveridge@observer-reporter.com
The City of Monongahela is suing the former mayor's son in federal court for cyber piracy and fraud involving a Web site he created for the city before his father left office.
The city claims Kenneth Cole II "hijacked" the city's domain name after his father was defeated in the November 2007 election by denying employees, including police officers, access to their e-mail accounts.
The seven-count lawsuit also cites alleged violations under racketeering and interstate commerce statutes over claims Cole obtained the city's trade secrets, confidential business information and private information maintained on residents, the court record shows.
The city clerk in February 2001 paid then-mayor Ken Cole $240 for the domain name, at his direction. The check was written out to "cash" with a notation that its purpose was to pay for the Web name, www.cityofmonongahela.com.
City officials assumed he later diverted the money to his son, who owns JK Networking of Monongahela, the lawsuit states.
The younger Cole registered the domain name listing the account holder as the City of Monongahela. The city later paid JK Networking $900 and $1,500 for Web services, the record indicates.
After new Mayor Bob Kepics took office in January, city employees and public officials realized they no longer had access to their e-mail accounts and thought their prior mail had become lost or destroyed.
The city further learned through a computer expert it hired that the younger Cole had switched ownership of the domain name from the city to himself. About that time, the city learned Cole wanted the city to purchase the old e-mail and domain name from his company, the record shows.
The city claims the domain name "is now being held hostage by defendant Cole as a bargaining chip to extract money from the city for products and services which Cole and his company were already paid," the record states.
The lawsuit has been recommended for mediation in federal court in an attempt to resolve the matter without a trial.
The city is asking the court to bar Cole from using the domain name or any computer device to access the city's computer system. It also is seeking punitive damages and the return of all city-related e-mail and other city documents in Cole's possession.
The Coles could not be reached Friday. The court record indicates the younger Cole has yet to name his attorney or respond to the complaint by the Oct. 6 deadline.
The city's attorney, Meghan E. Jones of Pittsburgh, was not in her office Friday.
On the Web site in dispute, the younger Cole has a statement that he has removed city-owned information from the site "in an effort to extend yet another olive branch" to city officials. He claims he has donated more than $10,000 worth of his time to build the Web site.
The site also includes audio from city council's meeting Wednesday and another link to the city's official Web site.