iStockphoto

More than two dozen University of Iowa , Iowa State University, and Ellsworth Community College athletes filed a lawsuit claiming they were charged with crimes because of investigators’ “unconstitutional” misuse of gambling tracking software.

All of the athletes were charged underage gambling and identity theft as part of a criminal investigation in 2023. Most of the athletes pleaded guilty to the underage gambling charge and paid a fine and in return had the identity theft charge dismissed. All of the players were suspended by the NCAA.

Four of the athletes, Iowa State football players Isaiah Lee, Jirehl Brock and Enyi Uwazurike and wrestler Paniro Johnson, were not among the group that pleaded guilty. They had the charges made against them dropped in March because, the Associated Press reports, it was found that the Division of Criminal Investigation misused tracking software that detected open mobile betting apps on cell phones in Iowa State athletic facilities.

In addition to the athletes’ gambling activity being tracked without obtaining a warrant, they were also interviewed without being told they were under investigation. Therefore, they were never read their Miranda rights.

One Iowa Department of Criminal Investigations (DCI) agent even went so far as to tell Isaiah Lee, a defensive lineman for Iowa State University, that he faced “no adverse or criminal consequences,” according to a Washington Post report.

That agent, however, would later state in a deposition that the evidence obtained by the DCI was gained through illegal searches of a gambling database.

According to the athletes’ attorneys, the DCI ended up losing access to the tracking software after its provider found it had violated the user agreement.

The lawsuit, filed on Friday in federal court in Des Moines, Iowa by 17 athletes from Iowa, eight from Iowa State and one from Ellsworth Community College, seeks a jury trial, punitive damages, compensatory damages, and attorney fees.

Named in the suit are Iowa’s Department of Public Safety commissioner Stephan Bayens, DCI director Paul Feddersen, DCI assistant director David Jobes, DCI special agent for sports wagering Troy Nelson and special agent Brian Sanger.

“The lives of these young men have been disrupted and altered in way still yet to be fully seen,” the athletes’ attorneys said in a statement. “Many of them have had their athletic careers ended, due to the State of Iowa’s unconstitutional use of GeoComply’s Kibana software. It is our hope that through the civil action we can help these young men put their lives back on track and gain a measure of justice for the violation of their rights.”