The Iowa Department of Public Safety was disheartened by a sports betting violations, DPS Commissioner Stephen Bayans said in a statement last week.
“The decision by the Story County Attorney’s Office to discontinue prosecution of these four cases is disappointing,” Bayans said. “Despite their decision, they repeatedly shared with us their belief that the Division of Criminal Investigation’s actions were legal.”
Bayans went on to explain that he believes the investigation into numerous collegiate athletes in the state, including prominent football players at both the University of Iowa and Iowa State University, was done lawfully and fairly. He believes the investigation drew scrutiny due to the status of those athletes.
“I understand why this investigation and the resulting charges have generated so much attention and such strong opinions,” Bayans said. “We love our college sports here in Iowa, myself included. Had this situation not involved college athletes, the public perception may have been entirely different.”
Lawyers fire back 1v4e5s
The charges were dismissed after it was determined that Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation (DCI) agents may have overstepped their bounds while using a GeoComply tool to monitor sports betting activity. Lawyers representing the four athletes who had charges dismissed fired back at the DPS statement (the DCI is overseen by DPS), suggesting the DPS statement should have mentioned the DCI’s prohibition of using a GeoComply tool stemming from possible overuse of its resources.
Reply To Bayens.docx“DPS doubling down on its of DCI’s investigation is alarming, and its failure to disclose some of the aforementioned exculpatory information to the prosecution appears to have been concerning enough for the Story County Attorney’s Office to dismiss its pending criminal cases against our clients,” the lawyers’ statement said.
The attorneys ended their statement by speaking out against the DCI’s use of GeoComply tools.
“The greater tragedy herein is the enormous impact on private lives law enforcement can wield when given unfettered access to technology to search and seize your electronic geolocation data and communications without so much as reasonable cause,” the lawyers’ statement said.
