All eyes are on RVCA co-founder Conan Hayes as his accomplice Tina Peters was convicted of hacking the voting computer

Conan Hayes, the talented Hawaiian goofyfoot from the Momentum Generation who finished 13th on the Championship Tour in 1996 and co-founded RVCA with Pat Tenore in 1999, is once again embroiled in Trump's election intrigue after his partner Tina Peters was found guilty on several counts, including three counts of attempted influence on a public official, one count of conspiracy to commit criminal impersonation, first-degree abuse of office, dereliction of duty and failure to cooperate with the Secretary of State.

Originally from Kona on the Big Island, Hayes ended his CT career in 1997 after 62 CT appearances. In 2001, Hayes co-founded the “action sports boutique” brand RVCA and cashed out $7.5 million in stock in 2010 after it was acquired by Billabong. After RVCA's success, Conan radically changed his strategy and began importing children's toys from a warehouse in LA. Quite a departure from surfing, he said surfer in an interview in 2012.

“Nobody knows what I'm doing now,” he laughs. “I've always been very busy and I just fell into it. It was cool to do something other than surfing. I started from scratch. It wasn't like, 'I'm a pro surfer, I've done this or that.' I didn't build any relationships and I like that.”

Soon after, Hayes disappeared from the public eye, avoiding the spotlight that had once followed him as a professional surfer and serial entrepreneur. However, his quiet life took a dramatic turn when he became embroiled in the far-right conspiracy theories surrounding the 2020 presidential election.

As allegations of voter fraud circulated across the country, fueled by statements from prominent figures like My Pillow CEO Mike Lindell, Hayes became a fixture in the movement. Under the anonymous Twitter handle @we_have_risen, Hayes began spreading unsubstantiated theories about rigged voting machines and voter fraud, amassing a sizable following among conspiracy theorists.

His involvement reached a critical point when he joined a group of pro-Trump activists seeking to challenge the legitimacy of the election results. That group, which included former Colorado official Tina Peters, wanted to expose what they believed was a massive cover-up. Peters, who was recently convicted of several charges related to a break-in into her county's voting computer system, played a crucial role in enabling Hayes' actions.

Peters was found guilty of using another person's security badge to give Hayes access to the Mesa County election system during a software update in May 2021. Hayes, posing as a county employee, used the badge to make copies of the election system's hard drive. These actions were part of a broader effort to uncover alleged evidence of voter fraud that they believed would prove the election had been stolen from Donald Trump.

CNN reports: “The jury found Peters guilty on several counts, including attempting to influence a public official, conspiracy to commit criminal impersonation and abuse of office. Although she was acquitted of the identity theft charge, the evidence presented at trial painted a disturbing picture of how Hayes and Peters conspired to undermine election security for their own ends.”

Prosecutors argued that Peters, driven by her desire for fame and fixated on the idea of ​​voter fraud, betrayed her duty to protect the integrity of the electoral process. They alleged that Hayes, far from his glory days of surfing, played a crucial role in that betrayal by accessing confidential voter information and sharing it with a group of conspiracy theorists.

There's probably more to come.