Phoenix man pleads guilty to election center theft

PHOENIX (CN) — An Arizona man caught stealing a security fob from a Maricopa County election center pleaded guilty Tuesday morning to that and three other thefts dating back to 2023.

Walter Ringfield, 27, 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, 2024. Attached to the lanyard was a security key and a magnetic key fob that elections officials say were meant to access ballot tabulators.

The theft threw oil on the fire that is Arizona’s political climate — already rife with mistrust and conspiracy theories of election interference — but then-interim County Sheriff Russ Skinner and Maricopa County Supervisor Bill Gates assured voters that the theft wasn’t politically motivated, and wouldn’t affect the 2024 election, which came and went without any major issues.

Ringfield initially denied stealing the fob, according to investigators in a probable cause affidavit, but police soon found the lanyard 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 his workspace to make a good impression and upgrade his temporary job to a permanent one.

He maintained innocence at his initial appearance in July 2024, but Tuesday morning pleaded guilty to a count of computer tampering, a class three felony carrying up to eight years in prison.

Prosecutors initially raised the felony to a class two, which could carry up to 35 years in prison, because the computers he tampered with are meant to access a “critical infrastructure resource.” But the level was lowered as part of Ringfield’s plea agreement.

County officials said at the time that it would cost them at least $20,000 to reprogram the ballot tabulators and security fobs.

Ringfield also pleaded guilty to three theft and burglary charges related to several thefts beyond the election center.

Just days before he went home with the security fob, he was seen on state Senate security footage stealing challenge coins and other desk accessories from an area of the building restricted from the public. He was later charged with trespassing and burglary, and pleaded guilty to the burglary count, a class four felony carrying up to four years in prison.

Senate Republicans said in a post on X, formerly Twitter, 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.

A month earlier, he was seen on surveillance video stealing about $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, a class three felony to which he also pleaded guilty.

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. He pleaded guilty to one undesignated count of theft.

Because he entered a diversion program for the theft charge, Maricopa County elections officials said his criminal background wasn’t flagged when he was hired at the election center.

In total, Ringfield faces a possible sentence of 20 years in prison, 14 years of probation and $600,000 in fines.

He’s scheduled to be sentenced on March 5 at 10 a.m. in Phoenix.

Follow @JournalistJoeAZ