Lawyer for small Marion County Record claims officers secretly copied Kansas’ newspaper data after raid where owner Joan Meyer died the next day

Police who raided a Kansas newspaper office secretly copied data to an external hard drive and then did not disclose the move, a lawyer for the Marion County Record claims.

Bernie Rhodes, a lawyer for the Kansas newspaper, claimed that police did not include the hard drive in the raid’s evidence list.

On Tuesday, the Marion County District Court released the list of items seized during the raid, including the hard drive.

In a letter Rhodes sent to attorney Bradley Jantz, who was hired to provide legal advice to the county after the August 11 raid, Rhodes wrote:

“Because that drive is still in the sheriff’s custody, it means the sheriff still has access to the Marion County Record data — data that is both constitutionally protected and protected by federal and state laws.”

The paper’s owner, Joan Meyer, died a day after the raid and video showed her yelling at police as they searched her home a day before her death.

“This access is illegal. It also clearly violates the court decision of August 16, 2023.”

“To make sure they actually comply with this order, unlike the previous order, let’s get them to agree to a formal court order,” Rhodes told police. Kansas reflector.

The Marion County Sheriff’s Office on Thursday agreed to destroy the digital files.

Rhodes claimed the sheriff’s office denied sharing the copied files with the Kansas Bureau of Investigation.

“We have not investigated and will not investigate any of those warrants,” Melissa Underwood, a spokeswoman for the KBI, told the Kansas Reflector.

Rhodes told The everyday beast the Marion County Sheriff’s Office “confirmed the fact that they copied 17 gigs of data from the newsroom computer system—and still have it.”

He said that while physical evidence was returned, the sheriff’s office did not turn over digital records from any of the computers they allegedly copied.

The attorney added that since the sheriff’s office still owns the hard drive, they have access to the newspaper’s records, which are “both constitutionally protected and protected by federal and state laws.”

“This access is illegal,” Rhodes told the Daily Beast. “The sheriff’s inability to follow the court’s order is inexcusable, and I won’t stand by and watch you decide to return my many calls.”

The raid on the home of the elderly co-owner of local newspaper Marion County Record was sparked by Ryan Newell, the restaurant owner’s estranged husband, who leaked her DUI information.

The newspaper did not publish the information it found about restauranteur Kari Newell, believing they were being used “as a pawn in a contentious divorce” between her and Ryan.

Instead, they passed the information on to the police. The same agents then seized their computers and equipment and then raided the home of the paper’s owner on Aug. 11 — and Joan Meyer, 98, died a day later following the shock.

Unredacted affidavits state that Marion Police Chief Gideon Cody said the raids were based on the belief that reporter Phyllis Zorn had illegally obtained Kari Newell’s driving records, according to CNN.

The tip about Newell’s drunk driving was sent to Zorn by a woman named Pam Maag. Maag said she received the data from Kari’s estranged husband, Ryan.

The search warrant that prompted the raids in the identity theft investigation was later revoked by District Attorney Joel Ensey, citing “insufficient evidence” to justify why it had been issued in the first place.

From the driving behavior that prompted this ordeal, it is believed that Kari Newell was driving without a valid license after she received a drink driving ticket in 2008.

She was trying to get a liquor license for her restaurant Chef’s Plate in Parlor 1886 – and information about her drunk driving may have stopped her from doing so.

Kari and Ryan Newell separated in September and their divorce proceedings are still ongoing.

This isn’t Ryan’s first time in the news. He was once charged with five counts of stalking and criminal use of a firearm against a Westboro Baptist Church family. He was also double amputated after losing his limbs in Afghanistan.

Speaking of the information, Ryan told the Kansas City Star, “All of this was not done out of malice.

“If she got into an accident and had her driver’s license revoked, I’d be the one to blame. My insurance company won’t cover anything, period.’

According to the affidavit, Zorn downloaded Newell’s personal information just three minutes before someone named “Kari Newell” downloaded the data.

This served as the basis for the investigation and raid, Cody said, because it appeared that “downloading the document meant impersonating the victim or lying about the reasons why the document was sought.”

Rhodes said, “It’s not a crime in America to be a reporter. These affidavits prove that the only so-called ‘crime’ Chief Cody investigated was journalism.”

Publisher and editor Meyer said that prior to her online search, Zorn had actually contacted the Treasury Department and received instructions on how to search records.

The reporter, asked to respond to allegations that she used Newell’s name to obtain Newell’s personal information, said, “My response is that I went to a Kansas Department of Revenue website and that’s where I got the information from.’

She added, “As far as I know there was nothing illegal or wrong.”

Rhodes maintained that Zorn’s actions were legal under both state and federal laws.

Using the suspect’s name “is not identity theft,” Rhodes said. “That’s just the way to access that person’s file.”

The newspaper had Newell’s driver’s license number and date of birth because a source — Pam Maag — provided them unsolicited, Meyer said.

“Don’t touch any of that stuff,” the Marion County Record co-owner told police in the recently released footage as she moved around her home on a walker. ‘This is my house. You are a *****e!’

Joan’s son Eric Meyer has claimed that his mother, a lifelong journalist, died the day after the raid because she was “traumatized” by the incident.

At least six officers are seen searching Joan’s house and sorting through her belongings as she repeatedly tells them to leave.

“I don’t want you in my house,” she says.

In the video – released by the Marion County Record – the woman at one point rolls her walker right up to a cop and demands that he wait outside.

“Did your mom ever love you,” Joan asks the cop in the video, which has been viewed more than 23,000 times in a matter of hours.

‘Get out of my house. You’re in violation,” she tells the man.

Two officers try to talk the woman down during the first minute of the video released by the newspaper, while the four others continue the search.

She even tries to stop the men and refuses to answer their questions. She replies “I’m not going to tell you” when asked how many computers she has.

“I want to see what they’re doing,” Joan says, trying to walk around the bank to see what the cops are looking at.

The interaction with the police in her own home was so disturbing that she died the next day while in the middle of a conversation.

During the ordeal, it emerged that Police Chief Cody was also under investigation by the newspaper he raided for allegations of sexual misconduct.

Cody became Chief of the Marion County Police Department in late April, after leaving the Kansas City Police Department over sexual misconduct allegations.

Along with the raid on Meyer’s residence and newspaper offices being raided, the home of Marion City Vice Mayor Ruth Herbel was also looted after Newell made a personal fiery attack on her in public last Monday.

At the council meeting on August 7 – four days before the raids – Newell stood up and accused the newspaper and Herbel of illegally obtaining information about her arrest while intoxicated.

Snippets show that the meeting descended into chaos: people talked at once, hands clapped on desks, and participants were stunned by Newell’s inflammatory accusations.