Motion filed to dismiss charges against Iowa State athletes

ESPN News Services

The prosecutor handling the sports wagering case against four former or suspended Iowa State athletes has asked a judge to dismiss all charges.

In a motion filed Friday in Story County District Court, assistant county attorney Benjamin Matchan wrote that the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation exceeded the scope of permitted use of tracking software that detected open mobile betting apps in Iowa State athletic facilities.

“Due to this newly discovered evidence, the State no longer believes further prosecution in this matter is in the interests of justice,” Matchan wrote.

Attorneys for former football players Isaiah Lee, Jirehl Brock and Eyioma Uwazurike and suspended wrestler Paniro Johnson had filed a motion to suppress earlier this week.

The four are among about two dozen Iowa State and Iowa athletes criminally charged last year. They each faced a felony charge of identity theft and an aggravated misdemeanor charge of tampering with records.

There also remains one case from the Criminal Division investigation into sports gambling still pending in Johnson County, wrote Johnson County attorney Rachel Zimmermann Smith in an email to ESPN Friday, adding that they “plan to handle it in the normal course.”

“So many other people that were charged in this investigation were stuck between a rock and a hard place between the university, the NCAA and their eligibility,” Matt Boles, attorney for Jirehl Brock, told ESPN. “Their fortitude in sticking this out is really important. They were given opportunities to plead and make this go away.”

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