Lacey Fowler arrested again, held on $727,000 bail
Former Cuesta employee re-arrested after failing to appear in court
– On Monday at about 1 p.m., former Cuesta College Human Resources Analyst Lacey Fowler was arrested by Paso Robles police officers on the 100 block of Capital Hill Road in Paso Robles. She was then transported to the Paso Robles Police Department where she was taken to the San Luis Obispo County Jail by Cuesta College police officers. Fowler was booked for several outstanding warrants and is being held on $727,000 worth of warrants and charges. This second arrest comes after an additional arrest warrant was issued last week after she failed to appear in court to face charges against her.
Lacey Fowler
On May 31, Fowler allegedly downloaded and emailed herself personal information of Cuesta College employees. On June 9, the Cuesta College Human Resources Department discovered the unauthorized download and reported it to the Cuesta College Police Department, which immediately began an investigation with the assistance of the San Luis Obispo County District Attorney’s Office.
On June 11, Cuesta College alerted all current employees to the information breach via email and mailed letters to the home addresses of all current and former employees affected. The information downloaded included names, social security numbers, date of birth, mailing addresses, phone numbers and email addresses.
On June 17, Fowler was arrested and, on June 18, charged with a felony count of improperly accessing computer data. Fowler posted bail and failed to appear at her arraignment on July 6, prompting an arrest warrant to be issued. After new charges were brought against Fowler on July 9, her bail was set at $375,000. Her husband, Chad Lee Fowler, 34, was arrested last month for having $27,000 in drugs while police issued a search warrant on his wife.
In response to the current investigation into the information breach, Cuesta College took action by recommending a fraud protection vendor to the Cuesta College Board of Trustees at the July 1, 2015 Board meeting. The board unanimously voted to enter into a one-year contract with LifeLock, a leading provider of proactive identity theft protection services. The contract went into effect July 2 and notifications with enrollment instructions were emailed and mailed to all individuals affected who will have sixty days to enroll.
