Attorney Believes Police Copied Newspaper Data Secretly

KANSAS - Earlier this month, the Marion County Record newspaper in Kansas was the target of a police raid. According to the outlet’s attorney, law enforcement secretly copied data from at least one computer they seized during the raid and didn’t return it when ordered to do so.

Bernie Rhodes, the newspaper’s lawyer, stated Officers illegally copied 17 gigs of data from the newspaper’s computer system.

“This simply raises even further the level of suspicion that what occurred here was not done for any legitimate purpose,” Rhodes told VOA.

On Aug. 11, local police, led by Chief Gideon Cody, raided the weekly newspaper’s office and the co-owner’s home. The items they seized, including computers, cellphones, hard drives, and other related items, were then stored in a locker at the sheriff’s office.

The police later justified the raid, saying it was due to a complaint from a local restaurant owner. This individual alleged that a Record reporter had committed identity theft by accessing public information from the Kansas Department of Revenue website.

After the raid faced extensive criticism from press freedom groups and global news organizations, the county attorney stated on August 16 that there was insufficient evidence to support the raid. As a result, a judge ordered that the confiscated devices be returned to their rightful owners. An inventory list given to the Record showed eight items.

However, Rhodes mentioned a discrepancy regarding this list. But when the district court released an inventory list earlier this week, it included nine items he said. The unaccounted item was referred to as “OS Triage Digital DATA” in the legal documents.

“It’s called fruit of the poisonous tree,” Rhodes commented, alluding to evidence that may have been unlawfully acquired. “The entire search was invalid,” he added.

As of now, the Marion County Sheriff’s Office has not provided a response to VOA’s request for comments.

This development has further deepened the newspaper’s concerns. The Record’s publisher, Eric Meyer, said to VOA earlier in the week in Marion, “I’m concerned about what the police looked through. They’re supposed to look for certain things. But who watches the watchers? You don’t know.”

Addressing potential next steps, Rhodes shared with VOA, “We would intend to sue Chief Cody, the police department, and the city of Marion for the constitutional violations that occurred.”