Pierre, South Dakota — In 2019, an electronic device owned by the philanthropist whose $400 million donation caused Sioux Valley Hospital to change its name to Sanford — and that name to be placed on a large number of other medical facilities, including several in our area — was at the center of a child pornography investigation.
But, in 2022, it was determined T. Denny Sanford would NOT face any child pornography charges. ProPublica, an independent, nonprofit newsroom originally broke the story.
Now, for almost two years, Sanford has been fighting with ProPublica and the Sioux Falls Argus Leader to delay or prevent records of the case from coming to light.
The South Dakota Supreme Court has now ruled that the search warrant records, including records on cell phones, the internet, email, and IP addresses will be released later this month.
Sanford had said that he and his legal team should be allowed to participate in redacting information from the records, but the South Dakota Supreme Court said they were only allowed to seal the records until the investigation is completed or an indictment is filed.
Barring any further appeals, the records will be released on Thursday, April 27th.
