DES MOINES, Iowa (WHO) — A now-former Iowa Division of Criminal Investigations agent says he was fired for questioning the legality of the investigation into illegal gambling at the University of Iowa and Iowa State University that resulted in over a dozen student athletes being charged.
During the summer of 2023, 15 student-athletes at ISU and UI were charged following an investigation led by the DCI into underage gambling. Nine of the athletes pleaded guilty to underage gambling. Court records show that for the athletes who had pleaded not guilty and whose cases were still pending as news of the questioned evidence became public, their cases were dismissed.
More information was made public regarding how the investigation began in January 2024. According to court filings, then DCI Special Agent Mark Ludwick said during a deposition that the DCI had conducted illegal searches on dozens of people’s personal online account information because a warrant had not been obtained to gather the GeoFence data that was used to begin the investigation…