MADISON COUNTY, Iowa — A battle between two county officials in Madison County is heating up.
Board of Supervisors Chairwoman Heather Stancil filed for a temporary restraining order late Friday night to stop law enforcement from accessing her phone and laptop after the Madison County Sheriff’s Office executed a search warrant at her home in Earlham, according to Federal court records.
The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Iowa Central Division decided not to immediately grant the request, and Judge Stephen Locher wrote, “the court is doubtful that it will grant it at all.” Judge Locher said he will wait to make a final determination until Madison County Attorney Stephen Swanson has been notified of the motion and has had the opportunity to weigh in.
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According to the filing, the office of Sheriff Jason Barnes seized Stancil’s personal cell phone and county-issued laptop around 6:45 p.m. Stancil and her attorney, Alan Ostergren, immediately filed paperwork to prevent the agency from examining, downloading, accessing, or viewing any of the items seized.
The filing points to “privileged email and text communications” between Stancil and Ostergren, and information about her “political activities,” as a primary concern in light of an ongoing criminal investigation into the Chairwoman, which she claims is retaliatory in nature…