By Jim Bloch
The Port Huron City Council voted unanimously — but without comment — to receive and file an “Investigative Report from the City Attorney regarding the alleged hacking and surveillance of the Mayor’s email account and emails, to waive attorney-client privilege, and to direct the administration to make the report readily available to the public.”
The 7-0 vote happened at the council’s regular meeting July13. The city posted the 30-page report on its website.
City attorneys Gary Fletcher and Todd Shoudy conducted the in-house investigation at the May 3 direction of Freed.
“Based upon the information available to us, and provided by Mayor Ashford, we were unable to discover any evidence to support Mayor Ashford’s assertion that City Manager James Freed had accessed her City of Port Huron email account, or any of Mayor Ashford’s private email accounts.”
Ashford’s charges were serious.
Fletcher said the “if we found out that Mr. Freed was accessing or using her email that we would recommend his discharge.”
Shoudy met with Mayor Ashford, and she told him that “she had information to support her belief that Mr. Freed was monitoring her emails and sending emails or replies in her name and had deleted emails from her email account.”
On June 12, Ashford’s attorney forwarded a 12-page packet to Fletcher and Shoudy containing the presumptive evidence of Freed’s hacks of her email.
Ashford “also alleged that the former IT Director, Bruce Fielder and City Clerk Cyndee Jonseck were secretly assisting City Manager James Freed to gain access to her email accounts.”
Interviews and affidavits
While the attorneys awaited Ashford’s packet, they interviewed Freed.
“Mr. Freed stated he has never had access to the email accounts of Mayor Ashford or any other mayor or council members,” the attorneys wrote. “Mr. Freed advised us that he believed he would need a password to access any other person’s City email account and he had no passwords for any City employee other than himself.”
They interviewed former IT Director Bruce Fiedler who said “neither Mr. Freed nor anyone else had ever asked him for any other person’s email password. He further said if Mr. Freed asked for the Mayor’s password or for a City Council members’ password he would refuse Mr. Freed’s request.”
They talked to Jonseck who explained that “her staff sets up the Mayor, City Council members and City employees with email addresses as part of the onboarding process.” She said “her staff keeps copies of the passwords in case a councilmember or mayor loses their password. Cyndee stated no one has ever been given copies of the council members or mayor passwords. Further, she said Mr. Freed has never been given the password of a council member or mayor, he has never asked for the password of a council member or mayor and if he did, she would refuse to provide such.”
All three submitted sworn affidavits in support of their claims.
Ashford’s packet: Freed and Lamb
Ashford’s 12 pages of evidence – emails and screenshots — concerned six instances in which she suspected Freed of tampering with her email.
The first email featured Freed, council member Teri Lamb, and the mayor, July 15, 2025, the day after a council meeting at which a chicken ordinance was discussed.
“Mayor Ashford believes that Ms. Lamb sent her an email that morning, that Mr. Freed saw the email because he had access to the Mayor’s emails, and then entered into the email discussion,” said Shoudy in his report.
Ashford, it turned out, appeared to mistake a cc from Freed as him hacking her.
Shoudy discovered that Lamb had emailed Freed about putting an ordinance allowing residents to raise chicken on the ballot and Freed cc’ed Ashford to keep her up to date.
“Why are you on my emails?” Ashford asked Freed during the email exchange.
“(Teri) emailed me directly,” Freed responded. “I added you to the email I sent her in response so that you would be aware of it. I do this often to keep you in the loo(p).”
The attorneys found no evidence of Freed hacking Ashford’s email.
Jim Bloch is a freelance writer based in St. Clair, Michigan. Contact him at bloch.jim@gmail.com.
