The Bibb County Sheriff’s Office is investigating how hard drives containing names and Social Security numbers of Macon police officers, as well as personal data from other local businesses, were sold through an online auction site.

The investigation is still in its early stages and likely will take some time because specially trained investigators must examine 39 hard drives, two computer servers and two central processing units, sheriff’s Capt. Mike Smallwood said Tuesday. The equipment has been turned over to the sheriff’s office.

“It’s going to take a little while,” he said. “People think their hard drives are cleared, but that’s not always the case.”

Smallwood said it is unclear if the hard drives -- the storage medium in desktop and laptop computers -- were surplus from Macon’s police department or finance department.

Robin Aaron, an office assistant in Macon’s finance department, was listed as the seller, according to a sales receipt included in the report. However, Aaron said the finance department hasn’t sold any computers. While she deals with GovDeals.com, she said she’s merely a general contact and that each city department handles the selling of its own equipment.

Police spokeswoman Jami Gaudet said that when the police department gets rid of a computer, it’s turned over to the city’s Information Technology Department, which is supposed to clean the hard drive. She said the city, not the police department, then sells the computer.

Smallwood said he doesn’t think the general public had access to the sensitive information, since the person who purchased the equipment turned it over to the sheriff’s office once he discovered the data. He said it’s not clear how many names or what private information was on the drives.

According to a sheriff’s report, William Foster, who operates a computer repair business with Bob Coons, purchased computer components through the website GovDeals.com in July 2011. Foster told investigators the equipment sat in his garage for a long time before he inspected them.

Coons, who lives in McDonough and didn’t make the actual purchase, said the two have been business partners several years, and Coons has been building computers and reselling them for the past 20 years.

Computers they purchase through the website generally don’t include hard drives, Coons said. In Georgia, the law usually requires that holes be drilled in a hard drive to render it inoperable.

“Normally, the computers don’t include a hard drive, or if they do, (the sellers) trash it or wipe it,” he said. “Apparently, they didn’t in this case.”

To contact writer Phillip Ramati, call 744-4334.