Former Marion police chief will face criminal charge in newspaper raid

WICHITA, Kan. (KWCH) - Sedgwick County District Attorney Marc Bennett and Riley County Attorney Barry Wilkerson, appointed special prosecutors in the case of the raid on a Marion County newspaper last year, announced that a criminal charge will be filed against former Marion Police Chief Gideon Cody.

The final report on the case from Bennett and Wilkerson said that Cody will be charged with obstruction of judicial process, a severity level 8, nonperson felony. Cody faces between seven and 23 months in prison if convicted.

Last August, Cody initiated a raid on the Marion County Record, the home of publisher Eric Meyer and the home of a then-city council member Ruth Herbal, who had been critical of the mayor.

At the time, Cody said he had evidence that the newspaper, reporter Phyllis Zorn, and the city council member had committed identity theft or other computer crimes in obtaining information about a local business owner’s driving record. His targets said they did nothing illegal, and no charges were ever filed.

Cody resigned in October, a week after an announcement during a city council meeting that he had been suspended.

A 124-page report, issued Monday by the specially-appointed prosecutors, described a poor investigation and erroneous conclusions. The report details the beginning of Cody’s investigation into possible mail theft-turn identity theft and breach of privacy. The victim: a local business owner who planned to renew a liquor license. The suspects, according to Chief Cody, were Meyer, Zorn, Herbal and a newspaper source.

The raid led to multiple lawsuits against Marion County authorities and elected officials. Deb Gruver, a reporter with the Record, accepted a $235,000 settlement in July from a lawsuit against the Marion County sheriff and the Marion County Attorney.

A federal lawsuit filed by Meyer and the newspaper alleges that the raid caused the next-day death of his 98-year-old mother, who lived with him. He and the newspaper’s attorney have suggested that the raid was Cody’s response to the paper investigating his background.

“They said ‘nothing as unusual about the police raid,’ that there was ‘no unusual malice to it,’'” Meyer said. “Seven people descended on my mother’s house to seize her computer? Seven. She told them, she told them, ‘I’m going to have a heart attack.’”

Cody seized Gruber’s personal cellphone and had her desk searched; she had no connection to the driving record but was looking into Cody’s past.

Other lawsuits have been filed by former Marion Vice Mayor and Councilwoman Ruth Herbel and by Zorn. Their lawsuits named the City of Marion, Interim Marion Police Chief Zach Hudlin, Marion County Sheriff Jeff Soyez, Marion County Sheriff’s Detective Aaron Christner, the City of Marion, Marion Mayor David Mayfield and the Marion County Commission as defendants.

Bennett and Wilkerson said the report issued Monday morning would be the only public discussion of their findings and that no further comments would be made.

On Monday, Meyer shared his feelings on the 124-page report and investigation into last summer’s raid.

“It is clear from their investigation that they knew mere days after the raid that we had broken no law whatsoever and they, until today, didn’t bother to announce that,” Meyer said.

Some people are being overlooked, the newspaper publisher said.

“There’s a lot of things overlooked in this and it’s interesting that we found our scapegoat and we’re going to crucify him,” Meyer said. “He deserves it but there are other people who have responsibility for this as well and they weren’t addressed in this.”

While the search warrants were issued legally, prosecutors said they were issued based on a poor investigation and erroneous conclusions. After the raids, Marion became a focus of international attention because as pointed out in the report, the press have long recognized privileges in our laws.

As more information began to surface, the report said Cody sent texts to his victim, telling her to delete text messages between the two.