MARION, Kan. — On Aug. 11, 2023, Marion Police Department, with help from the county sheriff, launched an unprecedented raid on a Kansas newsroom and two homes.
Gideon Cody, former Marion police chief, claimed Marion County Record reporters Phyllis Zorn and Eric Meyer committed identity theft by obtaining information about a local restaurant owner's driving history. Cody further accused Ruth Herbel, Marion mayor, of committing a crime by sharing the restaurant owner's driving information with the city administrator.
As police raided the newspaper's offices, two more raids took place at the homes of Herbel and the newspaper's owner, Eric Meyer. Meyer lived with his 98-year-old mother and co-publisher, Joan Meyer, who died one day after the raids.
Multiple legal experts, who reviewed Cody's search warrant affidavits, said Cody provided no evidence a crime was committed.
The question remains, why didn't anyone in power stop it?
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