KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The former police chief who launched a raid on a Kansas newspaper office and two homes is expected to be charged with obstruction of judicial process, according to two special prosecutors who released their findings on the case Monday.
Nearly one year after the unprecedented raids, which made national news headlines, two special prosecutors assigned to review the case have determined no other crimes were committed.
LINK | Complete KSHB 41 News coverage of Marion newspaper raid
The case was presented to the prosecutors based on findings from both the Kansas Bureau of Investigation and Colorado Bureau of Investigation.
Gideon Cody, former police chief of Marion, launched the raids on the newspaper's offices, the home of the newspaper owner and the vice mayor on August 11.
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Cody erroneously claimed Eric Meyer, owner of the Record and Phyllis Zorn, a journalist at the Record, committed identity theft and a computer crime by obtaining local restaurant owner, Kari Newell's driving record.
Cody also claimed Vice Mayor Ruth Herbel committed a crime by sharing the driving record with the rest of the city council.
While the evidence that trickled out over the past year indicated no crimes were committed by any of the people accused by Cody, this is the first public acknowledgment by outside investigators that no crimes occurred, except for the one Cody is now accused of committing.
LINK | Read the special prosecutor's report
While the report doesn't specify how Cody committed the crime of obstruction, the charge is listed under the subhead, Did Chief Cody Commit Any Crime With Regard to His Interaction With Kari Newell, After The Execution Of The Warrants On August 11, 2023?
The charge references Cody's text messages but gives no other details.
"The legal analysis of this issue is not included in the public release of this report. The findings will be incorporated into charges which will be sought in Marion, County District Court. The proposed charging document will allege that Gideon Cody committed the crime of Obstruction of Judicial Process, in violation of K.S.S. 21-5905 (a)(5)(A)."
In September, the I-Team revealed Cody asked Newell to delete their text messages after the raids.
Cody does not face any charges for launching the raids.
The prosecutors write, "Without evidence to establish that Chief Cody knew his conclusions were inaccurate and, therefore, that he knew the sworn statements in the warrant applications were not accurate, there is insufficient evidence to establish that Chief Cody committed a violation of the criminal laws of the state of Kansas by applying for the search warrant applications and swearing to them before Judge Viar."
The prosecutors continued by acknowledging Cody's weak case.
"Put another way, it is not a crime under Kansas law for a law enforcement officer to conduct a poor investigation and reach erroneous conclusions."
What did KBI know?
Cody also claimed KBI knew about the raids ahead of time.
As for Cody claiming to have KBI's support, Bethany Popejoy, Senior Special Agent for KBI told invstigators, "I probably called him and said what, what's going on, but at no point did I say everything that you did is, uh, okay, and I called Todd that day as well, uh, and said what in the world is going on, so, no, that is not an accurate representation."
Popejoy went on to say Cody "had to live in fantasy land to get that picture."
After the raids, Popejoy said Cody was like a "rabid squirrel in cage" who did not do anything she asked him to do.
As for whether or not KBI knew about the raids ahead of time, an email obtained by the I-Team revealed KBI Special Agent Todd Leeds responded to an email from a Marion police officer asking if the warrant on Eric Meyer's home had been executed yet.
Leeds told investigators he received unsigned search warrants in an email without explanation.
Leeds said he did not fully read the search warrants and only responded by asking if the warrants were executed.
Leeds told investigators, "On Thursday night at 5:27 p.m. I emailed him back 'thank you, Did you guys execute this today?' because I was confused as to why he was sending me an unsigned SW with no words in the email."
Leeds told investigators he intended to have KBI's computer team.
According to the report, Leeds acknowledges he should've sought help from the computer team but was distracted by personal matters relating to a funeral.
The report concluded there was no evidence KBI knew Cody was going to execute the search warrants on Aug. 11.
"SAC Popejoy had communicated with Chief Cody early in the week, which precipitated her sending Agent Leeds to Marion, but she understood from Agent Leeds that nothing formal would occur until Agent Leeds returned from funeral leave and the KBI computer team had been consulted."
While the criminal component of the investigation is considered closed, with the exception of Cody's anticipated charge of obstruction, five federal civil lawsuits against Cody and various county and city officials remain.
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