DCI agent says fellow agent died from stress caused by gambling probe, but family refutes

DES MOINES, Iowa — Ten more athletes from Iowa and Iowa State and an Iowa equipment manager have joined a federal lawsuit against the Iowa Department of Public Safety (DPS) and Division of Criminal Investigation (DCI), increasing the total number of plaintiffs to 37.

The lawsuit, filed earlier this year, alleges that the DCI’s use of geolocation software in its 2023 sting into sports betting by student-athletes violated the athletes’ constitutional rights, particularly their Fourth and Fourteenth Amendment protections against unlawful searches and seizures and their right to due process.

The case centers around the DCI’s alleged misuse of Kibana, a geolocation tracking tool produced by Canadian-based GeoComply and typically used by sportsbooks to ensure bettors are within legal jurisdictions.

The lawsuit claims that DCI agents used this software without obtaining warrants, creating “geofences” around university athletic facilities to track athletes’ mobile devices and detect when betting apps were opened. According to court documents reviewed by Iowa’s News Now, the plaintiffs argue that this amounted to illegal surveillance.

One of the more explosive revelations in the case comes from a January 2024 deposition by DCI Special Agent Mark Ludwick. An amended complaint filed Tuesday reveals that Ludwick testified that several DCI agents were troubled by the investigation’s scope and the methods employed, particularly the lack of warrants for the use of GeoComply’s tracking technology. Ludwick further said that the stress of the case had taken a toll on the agents involved, even claiming that one of his colleagues died from a heart attack brought on by the pressures of the investigation.

“Absolutely, to include so much that a special agent had a heart attack and died over the case,” Ludwick said, according to court documents.

This claim, however, has been disputed by the family of the deceased agent, Dennis Winter.

According to The Des Moines Register, Winter’s son, Blake, acknowledged that his father had worked on the betting investigation and found it stressful but refuted the idea that stress from the case was the sole cause of his father’s death.

“Was the case very stressful? Yes. From what we were told, stress levels alone are not what caused the heart attack,” Winter told the Register.

The amended complaint highlights the cases of 11 newly added plaintiffs, including several current and former wrestlers and football players from Iowa State and Iowa. Among them are Paniro Johnson and Nathan Schon, and football players Trey Mathis and Terry Roberts. They join a lawsuit that has already included prominent names like former Iowa State football players Isaiah Lee and Jirehl Brock, and former Iowa basketball player Ahron Ulis.

It alleges “warrantless searches of freshman and sophomore dorms occurred prior to the warrantless and illegal searches of plaintiffs which occurred in this case.”

The plaintiffs claim misuse of software enabled the DCI to gather evidence that was used to file charges of underage gambling and identity theft, resulting in several athletes losing their NCAA eligibility and facing public embarrassment.

“Defendants acted outside the bounds of their legal authority by obtaining location data and betting records without judicial oversight,” the athletes’ attorneys wrote in the amended complaint filed on Sept. 10.

The original 2023 investigation into sports betting violations involved more than two dozen athletes from Iowa’s two major universities. According to the lawsuit, the DCI tracked athletes’ betting activity on platforms like DraftKings and FanDuel, often using accounts registered under family members’ names to evade detection. In some cases, the athletes were accused of placing bets on games in which they participated or had insider knowledge. These actions led to criminal charges, including identity theft and underage gambling.

However, according to court documents reviewed by Iowa’s News Now, many of these charges were later dropped after it was revealed that the DCI had gathered this evidence without the necessary warrants.

“Plaintiffs’ constitutional rights were violated when their personal property was unlawfully seized by agents of the State of Iowa,” the plaintiffs’ attorneys wrote in the complaint.

The amended complaint also highlights alleged harm done to the athletes as a result of the investigation, stating that many of them have lost not only their NCAA eligibility but also their reputations and future professional prospects.

“Plaintiffs have and will in the future suffer humiliation, degradation, public ridicule, loss of personal reputation, and emotional distress,” the complaint reads. “Due to DCI’s actions Plaintiffs were either suspended by the NCAA or indicted, with some convicted, severely upending their lives, collegiate careers, and future opportunities.”

Several of the athletes, including Isaiah Lee and Jirehl Brock, had their charges dropped after it was revealed that the DCI’s use of GeoComply’s tracking software violated their rights. Lee, in particular, refused to accept a plea deal and saw all charges dismissed in March 2024 after the court found that the evidence against him had been obtained unlawfully.

The athletes are seeking compensatory and punitive damages for what they have endured, as well as attorney fees, documents show.

DCI officials have previously stated that they believed their investigation was conducted within the bounds of the law.

“The investigation uncovered concerns of a seismic magnitude within Iowa’s sports gambling industry,” DPS Commissioner Stephan Bayens said in a statement earlier this year. “I fully stand behind the investigation and the agents who did the work.”