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The head of the Iowa Department of Public Safety has issued a statement after it decided to abruptly drop charges against four Iowa State Cyclones student athletes it accused of violating sports gambling policy.
The charges were dismissed against wrestler Paniro Johnson as well as three football players: Eyioma Uwazurike, Jirehl Brock and Isaiah Lee.
Johnson had been accused of tampering with records after he was linked to a DraftKings account using a proxy name while underage.
The move comes weeks after it was revealed that in court documents on Jan. 22 that special agent Brian Sanger of the Iowa Department of Public Safety’s Division of Criminal Investigations allegedly conducted his investigations into illegal student-athlete gambling without a warrant.
More recently, reports surfaced that investigators lost critical geofencing software that was used to target bets allegedly made on college campuses.
Assistant Story County attorney Benjamin Matchan offered this statement: “Due to this newly discovered evidence, the State no longer believes further prosecution in this matter is in the interests of justice."
DPS Commissioner Stephen Bayens says he “understand why this investigation and the resulting charges have generated so much attention and such strong opinions. We love our college sports here in Iowa, myself included. Had this situation not involved college athletes, the public perception may have been entirely different.”
- Gilbert Horowitz, Gambling911.com
