Attorneys for four current or former Iowa State athletes charged in the Iowa State online sports betting investigation filed a motion Tuesday to suppress all evidence in the case, citing an “unlawful search and seizure” that violated the constitutional rights of athletes.
Iowa State wrestler Paniro Johnson and former ISU football players Eyioma Uwazurike, now with the Denver Broncos, as well as Isaiah Lee and Jirehl Brock, have been charged with identity theft or tampering with records to place online bets. using DraftKings or FanDuel accounts registered in the names of others. people. Uwazurike was suspended indefinitely in July for violating the NFL's betting policy. Lee and Brock left the team before the season. Johnson will not participate in any wrestling competitions affiliated with the state of Iowa this season, only in independent tournaments in which he pays his own expenses.
Attorneys representing the four allege that the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation, which led the sports betting investigation last spring, misrepresented the nature of its investigation and violated the terms of use of a software program used to capture bets on line inside the Iowa State athletic facilities.
Tuesday's motion took note of a Jan. 25 letter sent by geolocation security company GeoComply to Iowa DCI, stating that it would disable DCI's access to Kibana, the tool used to capture betting data, because “DCI may have exceeded the intended range of his Kibana.” access and use privileges.” The defendants claim that Brian Sanger, a DCI agent who led the state's investigation into sports betting by college athletes, failed to obtain a search warrant before using Kibana.
“Without Officer Sanger's unlawful use of the Kibana tool, the defendants would never have been targeted by law enforcement, and subsequent subpoenas and search warrants would never have been issued,” the motion said.
According to Tuesday's motion, DCI agents had told players that the investigation was regulatory in nature and was not targeting anyone for potential criminal charges. Their cooperation with the investigation and disclosure of online gambling they had engaged in “violated constitutional rights against self-incrimination.” A motion filed last month on Johnson's behalf cited a statement from Mark Ludwick, a DCI agent involved in the investigation and a state witness, who testified that an agent leading the operation told him the investigation would be “purely administrative” and would not will result in criminal charges. Ludwick interviewed Lee under that premise and received confirmation from Lee that he had placed sports bets on another person's account.
In a Jan. 31 statement, the Iowa Department of Public Safety, which oversees DCI, said it had access to programs like Kibana “to help identify anomalies that suggest suspicious or criminal activity that could undermine sports betting in Iowa and ensure regulatory compliance”.
The state added that it had “conferred with legal counsel to ensure legal access and use of the technology,” and had two county attorney officials review evidence from the investigation before deciding to charge more than 20 state athletes. Iowa and the University of Iowa on illegal charges. sports bets.
Tuesday's motion cites a similar gambling case in the state where a DCI agent who worked with Sanger obtained a court order in April 2023 to use Kibana as part of an investigation into two 19-year-old men who are not college athletes and they used one. of his father's accounts to place bets on minors. Both men were charged with underage gambling, a simple misdemeanor, instead of the more serious charges filed against Johnson, Uwazurike, Lee and Brock.
The attorneys are asking for a hearing to suppress all evidence in the case and “grant any additional relief,” including dismissal of the case.
