A group of former Iowa State athletes accused of illegal sports gambling had their charges dropped after the defense revealed the investigation might have been carried out inappropriately.
Former football players Eyioma Uwazurike, Jirehl Brock and Isaiah Lee and former wrestler Paniro Johnson all had their charges dropped, according to the Des Moines Register.
Earlier this week, the athletes’ defense attorneys released an email from GeoComply, a software company that makes sure users of betting apps are doing so within state lines where gambling is permitted, to the Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission.
The email alleged that the Division of Criminal Investigation (DCI) was using the tool inappropriately in its probe.
Previously, defense attorneys had accused DCI Special Agent Brian Sanger of tracking athletes’ bets made in team facilities at the University of Iowa and Iowa State University without a warrant.
“The State no longer believes further prosecution in this matter is in the interests of justice,” assistant Story County attorney Benjamin Matchan wrote on Friday in a motion to drop the charges.
Defense attorneys had also argued that DCI agents lied to the student-athletes, telling them that they were subjects of a criminal investigation as a means to extract statements from them in which they incriminated themselves.
In January, the DCI had defended its investigative tactics.
“The evidence was obtained in a constitutionally permissible manner,” the investigators said in a statement.
Iowa state Sen. Janet Petersen spoke out against the use of technology to potentially track students.
“I have deep concerns about our Iowans’ right to privacy,” Petersen said in January, per CBS 8 in Des Moines.
“I think all Iowans should be concerned about what is being done to take away potentially the right to privacy of our students in their dormitories. And I think we need to be watching this case closely,” she added.
Brock, Lee, and Uwazurike had all been accused of placing bets on Iowa State games in which they participated.
Uwazurike, now a member of the Broncos, was also accused of betting on NFL games in which he was involved, and remains suspended by the league.