KS - Police raid local newspaper’s office and co-owner’s home, co-owner subsequently dies, Marion, 11 August 2023

[Countem]

In summary, on August 11, 2023, Marion Police Department (MPD) officers raided the office of the Marion County Record (MCR), a local newspaper; the home of Joan Meyer, the 98-year-old co-owner of the MCR; and the home of the Marion vice mayor in connection with allegations of identity theft and unlawful computer acts relating to Marion restauranteur Kari Newell (KN).

Joan Meyer, reportedly in good health for her age, passed away the following day, August 12, 2023, after becoming unable to eat or sleep after the raids.

The MCR had received information from a source that KN’s driver’s license had been suspended due to a drunken-driving conviction in 2008 and corroborated the information using a state-operated website. The MCR did not report on the information believing it to have been intentionally leaked to influence divorce proceedings between KN and her estranged husband.

At the time that the MCR was contacted by the source, KN was in the process of obtaining a catering liquor license from the City of Marion. The MCR notified the MPD of the source’s information and that the source also indicated that the MPD was failing to act on KN’s on alleged violations of the suspended license.

The MPD contacted KN as part of its subsequent investigation. KN accused the MCR of illegally obtaining the information concerning her driver’s license status, leading to the MPD obtaining search warrants and conducting the raids.

Below is the story from the Marion County Record.

UPDATED: Illegal raids contribute to d6 | Marion County Record | Aug. 12, 2023 ()

Below is a national news article.

Small Kansas newspaper says co-owner, 98, collapsed and died after police raid

Police defended the raids of the Marion County Record office and the home of the newspaper's 98-year-old co-owner, insisting that the co-owner was a suspect in the investigation.

www.cbsnews.com

 

[imstilla.grandma]

Joan Meyer, the 98-year-old co-owner of a small Kansas newspaper, collapsed and died at her home on Saturday, a day after police raided her home and the Marion County Record's office, the newspaper said. Meyer had been "stressed beyond her limits and overwhelmed by hours of shock and grief," the Record said, calling the raids illegal.

Marion Police Chief Gideon Cody on Saturday defended the raid and said that once all the information is available, "the judicial system that is being questioned will be vindicated." Police have not shared an update since Meyer's death was announced.

"Our first priority is to be able to publish next week," publisher Eric Meyer said. "But we also want to make sure no other news organization is ever exposed to the Gestapo tactics we witnessed today. We will be seeking the maximum sanctions possible under law."

Friday's raid was conducted on the basis of a search warrant. The search warrant, posted online by the Kansas Reflector, indicates police were investigating identity theft and unlawful acts concerning computers. It also indicated police were looking for documents and records pertaining to local restauranteur Kari Newell.

According to the Record, Newell had accused the newspaper of illegally obtaining drunk driving information about Newell and supplying it to Marion Councilwoman Ruth Herbelv.

Small Kansas newspaper says co-owner, 98, collapsed and died after police raid

Police defended the raids of the Marion County Record office and the home of the newspaper's 98-year-old co-owner, insisting that the co-owner was a suspect in the investigation.

www.cbsnews.com

MARION — In an unprecedented raid Friday, local law enforcement seized computers, cellphones and reporting materials from the Marion County Recordoffice, the newspaper’s reporters, and the publisher’s home.

Eric Meyer, owner and publisher of the newspaper, said police were motivated by a confidential source who leaked sensitive documents to the newspaper, and the message was clear: “Mind your own business or we’re going to step on you.”

Police stage 'chilling' raid on Marion County newspaper, seizing computers, records and cellphones - Kansas Reflector

In an unprecedented raid Friday, local law enforcement seized computers, cellphones and reporting materials from the Marion County Record office, the newspaper's reporters, and the publisher's home.

kansasreflector.com

 

[Countem]

https://www.kansascity.com/news/state/kansas/article278212472.html

The MCR was investigating the recently hired Marion police chief, Gideon Cody, at the time of the raids. Now, EM is concerned as GC can now see who their sources were as a result of the raids.

EM said that, before the raid, his newspaper had investigated GC’s background and his time at the Kansas City Police Department before he came to Marion. […]

“I really don’t think it would be advisable for me to say what it was we were investigating, other than to characterize the charges as serious….,” EM said.

“I have already been vetted. They’ve (the newspaper) actually did a background on me. And that’s why they chose not to (publish a story).”

GC continued, “however, if they can muddy the water, make my credibility look bad, I totally get it. They’re gonna try to do everything they possibly can.”

The article also has some great information about the debate on the legalities of the raids.

 

[Countem]

Kansas restaurant owner who sparked police raid on local newspaper

Footage from the explosive Marion City Council meeting that sparked a police raid on a local newspaper office has been revealed.

www.dailymail.co.uk

Footage from the explosive Marion City Council meeting that sparked a police raid on a newspaper office has been revealed- where a furious restaurant owner accused officials of leaking her DUI information while slamming their 'malicious' behavior.

 

[tlcya]

so wait, let me make sure I've got this: The paper, using publicly available online records, found out about Newell's DUI. believing it may be damaging and possibly planted in an effort to make Newell look bad in a family law case, they opted NOT to publish that info. And yet Ms. Newell, threw a tizzy, accused the paper of trying to sabotage her and demanded action, which resulted in the newly elected sheriff, who has some sort of accusations of impropriety hanging above HIS head, and has his own reasons not to like the paper, proceeded to get a search warrant and harass the owners of the newspaper.

Am I understanding all of this properly??

 

[Countem]

so wait, let me make sure I've got this: The paper, using publicly available online records, found out about Newell's DUI. believing it may be damaging and possibly planted in an effort to make Newell look bad in a family law case, they opted NOT to publish that info. And yet Ms. Newell, threw a tizzy, accused the paper of trying to sabotage her and demanded action, which resulted in the newly elected sheriff, who has some sort of accusations of impropriety hanging above HIS head, and has his own reasons not to like the paper, proceeded to get a search warrant and harass the owners of the newspaper.

Am I understanding all of this properly??

The newspaper found out about the DUI from a source and then confirmed the source’s claims using a State website, which required that they enter a driver’s license number.

MOO: I wonder if this is the site that was used: Kansas Department of Revenue - Drivers License Status

If so, the issue may be that they would have presented themselves as her looking up her own license online, though the site does not specifically say that it can only be used to look up your own record.

Everything else you have written is what is being reported. (Facepalm.)

 

[Countem]

Here is an article with a copy of the search warrant (behind paywall):

https://www.kansascity.com/news/local/crime/article278278748.html

 

[sds71]

KBI along with the county attorney issued a statement saying “insufficient evidence exists” to establish the alleged crime.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1691866873808253392

 

[imstilla.grandma]

An unexpected police raid of a small-town newspaper has drawn immense national criticism from First Amendment advocates.

“It’s shocking to say the least. These types of newspaper raids are almost unheard of in this country or in any country that protects free press," said Bob Corn-Revere, chief counsel for the Foundation of Individual Rights and Expression.

It’s not only I who believe that, the coroner who handled her case who was her family physician for many years thinks so too," said Meyer. "The last 24 hours of a 98 year old woman’s life was devoted to pain and anguish.

Meyer indicates the paper may pursue a federal lawsuit.

Corn-Revere says these actions by police are precisely what the First Amendment was designed to prevent.

“The framers of the constitution tried to safeguard against this kind of arbitrary and excessive government action," said Corn-Revere.

Police raid on Kansas county newspaper shocks free speech activists, may have killed 98-ye

An unexpected police raid of a small-town newspaper has drawn immense national criticism from First Amendment advocates.

ktxs.com

 

[imstilla.grandma]

Articles that authorities seized during a police raid on a Kansas newspaper office will be returned, the Kansas Bureau of Investigation said in a statement Wednesday.

The paper’s co-owner and publisher, Eric Meyer, has said he believes Friday’s raid in Marion – about 60 miles north of Wichita – was prompted by a story published Wednesday about a local business owner, while authorities countered they are investigating what they called “identity theft” in a search warrant.

MSN

 

[tlcya]

just watched the video of the city council meeting days prior to the execution of the search warrants.

The paper claims they never even accessed the drivers license site period. They say someone on social media forwarded this already obtained DUI info to them and upon checking with their legal department they declined to publish or share the info. They further claim they shared with the sheriff and local police chief that they thought someone was attempting to use fraudulently gained info and providing it to the paper to smear Newell. Newell also accuses them of sharing that info with a council member who then spread the word to others. The only people the paper claims they told were law enforcement.

The paper specifically denies taking any action to obtain it or disseminate the info beyond reporting to two police agencies that they had received it.

 

[imstilla.grandma]

Tangent​

In an interview with The Handbasket, a news blog run by MSNBC columnist Marisa Kabas, Meyer said his newspaper has been actively investigating Cody after several tips he'd moved to Marion County following alleged sexual misconduct in his previous role as a Kansas City police captain. Meyer said the paper received "an outpouring of calls" over several months about the allegations but had not run a story because it couldn't get any sources to go on the record. The allegations—and the identities of the tipsters—were on the computers seized by Cody's department, Meyer said. Before the search warrant was withdrawn, Rhodes sent a letter to Cody warning against his accessing any files on any seized equipment and said doing so would "willfully violate" the privilege of journalists

Controversial Search Warrant In Kansas Newspaper Raid Withdrawn—But Probe Continues

The “Marion County Record” will get back all seized items, including cell phones and computers.

www.forbes.com

 

[sds71]

The judge who granted the search warrant against the Marion, KS newspaper once drove into a school building. This happened while her license was suspended for an earlier DUI. She had been an active prosecutor for eight years already when this happened.


"The first arrest — in Coffey County, about an hour and 15 minutes southeast of her home in Council Grove, on Jan. 25, 2012 — has not been reported."

“…she was driving Morris County Magistrate Judge Thomas Ball's vehicle, when she ran off the road and hit a shed near the Council Grove football field.”

https://kansascity.com/news/politics-government/article278237263.html?taid=64dd216abafe7a0001ae3ee6&utm_campaign=trueanthem&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter

 

[Countem]

The judge who granted the search warrant against the Marion, KS newspaper once drove into a school building. This happened while her license was suspended for an earlier DUI. She had been an active prosecutor for eight years already when this happened.


"The first arrest — in Coffey County, about an hour and 15 minutes southeast of her home in Council Grove, on Jan. 25, 2012 — has not been reported."

“…she was driving Morris County Magistrate Judge Thomas Ball's vehicle, when she ran off the road and hit a shed near the Council Grove football field.”

https://kansascity.com/news/politics-government/article278237263.html?taid=64dd216abafe7a0001ae3ee6&utm_campaign=trueanthem&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter

Wow. Just, wow. There are no words.

 

[gliving]

The judge who granted the search warrant against the Marion, KS newspaper once drove into a school building. This happened while her license was suspended for an earlier DUI. She had been an active prosecutor for eight years already when this happened.


"The first arrest — in Coffey County, about an hour and 15 minutes southeast of her home in Council Grove, on Jan. 25, 2012 — has not been reported."

“…she was driving Morris County Magistrate Judge Thomas Ball's vehicle, when she ran off the road and hit a shed near the Council Grove football field.”

https://kansascity.com/news/politics-government/article278237263.html?taid=64dd216abafe7a0001ae3ee6&utm_campaign=trueanthem&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter

It appears the restaurant owner, police chief and judge were all hoping to keep their own names out of the news but ended up being publicly named/(shamed) anyway. Awesome how it worked out that way.

 

[Gardenista]

This is so confusing.

 

[gliving]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1691863887107289093

 

[scapa]

Making news over the pond now.

In making what was almost certainly likely to be a quiet noise suddenly very, very loud, this may be the most Streisand Effect-esque case to come along in a long while:

Kansas newspaper raided by police to have seized items returned

Police raid on office of Marion County Record drew widespread condemnation by press freedom advocates

www.theguardian.com

Streisand effect | Definition, Meaning, Examples, & Origin

Streisand effect, phenomenon in which an attempt to censor, hide, or otherwise draw attention away from something only serves to attract more attention to it. The name derives from American singer and actress Barbra Streisand’s lawsuit against a photographer in 2003, which drew attention to the

www.britannica.com

 

[azure]

I'm a Kansan, though Marion county is a few hours away, and I subscribed to the Record the other day in support of freedom of the press, and to express my condolences to Joan's family. If anyone is interested, there's a link on their website. It's affordable and can be done from anywhere in the world.

 

[kittythehare]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/2023/08/19/confidential-affidavits-detail-reasoning-police-raid-kansas-newspaper/