UPDATED:
Illegal raids contribute to death of newspaper co-owner
Stressed beyond her limits and overwhelmed by hours of
shock and grief after illegal police raids on her home and
the Marion County Record newspaper office Friday, 98-year-
old newspaper co-owner Joan Meyer, otherwise in good
health for her age, collapsed Saturday afternoon and died
at her home.
She had not been able to eat after police showed up at the
door of her home Friday with a search warrant in hand.
Neither was she able to sleep Friday night.
She tearfully watched during the raid as police not only
carted away her computer and a router used by an Alexa
smart speaker but also dug through her son Eric’s personal
bank and investments statements to photograph them.
Electronic cords were left in a jumbled pile on her floor.
Joan Meyer’s ability to stream TV shows at her home and to
get help through her Alexa smart speakers were taken
away with the electronics.
As her home was raided, other officers descended upon the
Record office, forcing staff members to stay outside the
office for hours during a heat advisory. They were not
allowed them to answer the phone or make any calls.
Marion police chief Gideon Cody forcibly grabbed reporter
Deb Gruver’s personal cell phone out of her hand,
reinjuring one of her fingers, which previously had been
dislocated.
Officers seized personal cell phones and computers,
including the newspaper’s file server, along with other
equipment unrelated to the scope of their search.
They refused to say when the items, necessary for
publishing next week’s issue of the Record, might be
returned. The newspaper has obtained equipment to
ensure publication and is working to re-create material for
the paper.
Legal experts contacted by the Record termed the raid
unheard of in America and reminiscent of what occurs in
totalitarian regimes and the Third World.
The Record is expected to file a federal suit against the City
of Marion and those involved in the search, which legal
experts contacted were unanimous in saying violated
multiple state and federal laws, including the U.S.
Constitution, and multiple court rulings.
“Our first priority is to be able to publish next week,”
publisher Eric Meyer said, “but we also want to make sure
no other news organization is ever exposed to the Gestapo
tactics we witnessed today. We will be seeking the
maximum sanctions possible under law.”
A two-page warrant signed by Magistrate Laura Viar was
given to the Record at the time of the search.
Marion vice mayor Ruth Herbel’s home also was raided at
the same time.
The warrants alleged there was probable cause to believe
that identity theft and unlawful computer acts had been
committed involving Marion business owner Kari Newell.
A Record reporter later requested a copy of the probable
cause affidavit necessary for issuance of the search warrant
District court, where such items are supposed to be filed,
issued a signed statement saying no affidavit was on file.
County attorney Joel Ensey, whose brother owns the hotel
where Newell operates her restaurant, was asked for it but
said he would not release it because it was “not a public
document.”
Police read Record staff members their rights. Cody asked
officer Zach Hudlin to read Gruver her rights because he
couldn’t read a business-sized card listing them as he
wasn’t wearing glasses.
Denying staff access to the office and taking four
computers meant that the reporters and the newspaper’s
office manager could not do their jobs Friday.
Officers disconnected a computer router at the Record but
did not seize it.
Law enforcement also seized a computer and a cell phone
from Herbel’s home Friday morning. Herbel, 80, who does
not have a land-line phone, later drove to McPherson to
purchase a replacement phone so she could remain in
contact in case of problems with her 88-year-old husband,
who is disabled and suffers from dementia.
Newell accused the Record at a city council meeting Aug. 7
of illegally obtaining drunken-driving information about her
and supplying it to Herbel.
The Record did not seek out the information. Rather, it was
provided by a source who sent it to the newspaper via
social media and also sent it to Herbel.
After attempting to verify that the information was accurate
and had been obtained, as the source claimed, from a
public website, the Record decided not to publish it.
After consulting an attorney and obtaining other
information, Meyer thought the information had been
intentionally leaked to the newspaper as part of legal
sparring between Newell and her estranged husband over
who should get title to various of the couple’s motor
vehicles in divorce proceedings.
That contention later was verified by Newell during
discussions with Meyer.
During attempts to verify the information, the Record
accessed the same state web page that the source
indicated had been used.
During the verification attempt, Record reporter Phyllis
Zorn made no attempt to conceal her identity, providing
her name and knowingly clicking on a consent form
verifying that she did not plan to disseminate the
information — because, in fact, she did not plan to and did
not do so.
Afterward, Meyer consulted an attorney and, without
naming Newell, on Aug. 4 notified Sheriff Jeff Soyez and
Cody that the newspaper had received the information and
that the source who provided it alleged that law
enforcement officers knew Newell did not have a valid
driver’s license and ignored her violation of the law.
After the council meeting, Newell acknowledged the
accuracy of the information and said she understood that
coming forward with allegations about it might expose the
information rather than preserve its confidentiality.
The state suspended her license because of a drunken-
driving conviction in 2008 and a series of other driving
convictions.
Newell speculated about who the source was and said she
thought the information had been supplied to that person
by her estranged husband as part of their divorce
proceedings.
She has said that she took care of her license this week.
This, however, has not been verified. In the same post, she
admitted driving without a license after her drunken-driving
conviction.
At Monday’s council meeting, Newell accused Herbel of
acting “negligently and recklessly” by sharing her personal
information.
Herbel said she had received the information from the
same source as the Record but had shared it with only one
person — city administrator Brogan Jones — because
Newell was on that day’s agenda to seek endorsement of a
request for a catering liquor license, for which a drunken
driving conviction in certain cases might have disqualified
her. Herbel told Jones she thought the police should
investigate Newell’s application.
Last modified Aug. 13, 2023
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