Report: Iowa prosecutors dismissing charges against Iowa State student-athletes in sports gambling scandal

A quartet of former Iowa State athletes got a win in court on Friday, as prosecutors dismissed charges against them stemming from an investigation into illegal sports gambling, according to WHO13’s Elias Johnson. A number of Iowa and Iowa State athletes were caught up in the investigation by the Iowa Department of Criminal Investigations.

The four former Iowa State athletes came from two sports. Wrestler Paniro Johnson and football players Jirehl Brock, Isaiah Lee and Eyioma Uwazurike all saw the charges against them dismissed on Friday.

WHO13 sports reporter Keith Murphy shared more from an apparent filing explaining why the prosecutors were withdrawing charges. In short, the criminal investigators from the DCI went beyond the acceptable use of a software that they were using in the case.

With this apparent issue to the chain of custody and admissibility of certain evidence in the case, prosecutors have waved off the case.

“Due to this newly discovered evidence, the State no longer believes further prosecution in this matter is in the interests of justice,” a filing Murphy quoted on social media reads, in part. “[sic] The Defendant consents to dismissal of this case with costs assessed to the State. The Defendant has agreed to withdraw the Motion to Suppress. WHEREFORE, the State of Iowa, by and through the undersigned Assistant Story County Attorney, requests that this matter be dismissed with prejudice and with court costs assessed to the State.”

With the charges dismissed, any of the four athletes with remaining eligibility will still need to contend with any NCAA punishments or sanctions for gambling before potentially being reinstated to their teams.

Lee sent a letter earlier this year that may have helped the cause of the former Iowa State athletes under scrutiny

A motion was filed in late January on behalf of Lee in regards to the state’s gambling investigation this past summer. According to ESPN’s Adam Rittenberg, attorney Van Plum claims that a “warrantless search” targeted both Cyclones and Iowa Hawkeyes players, including Lee.

A total of 16 players from Iowa State and Iowa were charged in the gambling investigation, with nine of those being Cyclones. Lee was accused of placing wagers on 12 ISU football games, including a moneyline wager against the Cyclones in a 2021 game against Texas that he played in. Iowa State won the game 30-7.

Lee left the program in August amid the allegations against him.

The motion describes how the investigation into the gambling activity at Iowa and Iowa State began with Brian Sanger, a Special Agent at the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation. It alleges that he used the software Kibana to place a “warrantless GeoFence” around freshman and sophomore dorms at the University of Iowa “without any tips, complaints or evidence that underage gambling was occurring.”

Sanger discovered that online gambling accounts were opened in the dorms, but was unable to determine whether bets had been placed. He asked his superior, Troy Nelson, for permission to continue the investigation but was told no.

At that point, Sanger turned his attention to an athletic facility on the Iowa campus with restricted access to athletes, coaches and support staff. He discovered the same information as he had at the dorms, but this time was given the go-ahead to continue his investigation.

“Again, this was done without a warrant, tips, complaints or evidence that illegal gambling was occurring,” the motion reads. “…Without reasonable cause the team of Special Agents targeted more facilities as well as began requesting subpoenas to obtain account information on hundreds of private citizens’ private information, which was also without reasonable cause.”

As a result, multiple Hawkeyes athletes were indicted on charges of underage gambling. The motion states that Sanger said in his deposition that he “cannot remember why he decided to conduct the warrantless searches but that he was concerned about things such as people infiltrating Iowa’s team to gain inside information or match-fixing.”

Sanger also said that only athletes who gambled using a name on their accounts that was not theirs were charged in the investigation. However, the motion refutes this.

“The defense has received information that indicates this was not true and that in fact, there is a possibility that only high-profile athletes were targeted when charges were filed in the fall of 2023,” the motion states.