Noah Shannon, Eyioma Uwazurike, & dozens of athletes suing state over gambling probe

DES MOINES, Iowa — Twenty-six athletes whose athletic careers were impacted by a sports gambling probe are suing the State of Iowa, Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation, Iowa Department of Public Safety, and other agents and administrators.

More than two dozen athletes from Iowa and Iowa State are included in the lawsuit that claims the state and DCI agents violated their civil rights, specifically violating their fourth and fourteenth amendment rights.

Lawyers for Eyioma Uwazurike, Isaiah Lee, Paniro Johnson (not included in the lawsuit), and Jirehl Brock accused agents and investigators earlier this year of starting the investigation with a warrantless search.

Iowa DCI agent Brian Sanger, who is a defendant in the suit, started the probe by using a GeoComply ‘GeoFence’ around certain buildings on campus known to have athletes. Emails revealed in discovery show GeoComply revoked DCI of their tools, in fear that they had exceeded the scope of its permitted use. Iowa DCI later released statements saying they were well in their rights to use the tolls.

Still, prosecutors dropped the charges against those four ISU athletes.

Many of the athletes though, had already pleaded guilty to charges in the case, and all of them were handed suspensions. Noah Shannon had to sit out all year for seemingly making one bet on an Iowa team (that wasn’t the football team). There was hope he could rejoin the team during the last few games, when the NCAA had appeared to change their punishment scale. However, even after notifying Iowa the change was coming, decided weeks later to keep the full-year suspension intact.

Athletes on the lawsuit:

• Eyioma Uwazurike, Jirehl Brock, Isaiah Lee, DeShawn Hanika, Cobe Siebrecht, Nelson Brands, Ahron Ulis, Dodge Sauser, Keaton Anthony, Jake Remsburg, Hunter Dekkers, Noah Shannon, Benjamin James Tallman, Jacob Henderson, Jake English, Cullan Schriever, Tony Cassioppi, Aaron Blom, Jeremiah Williams, Abe Assad, Howard Brown, Patrick Kennedy, Gehrig W. Christensen, Arland Bruce IV, Jack Johnson, and Harry Bracy

Read full lawsuit below.

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