Des Moines, Iowa (RI) — An Iowa lawmaker is accusing state investigators of testing software on the Iowa Capitol before using it to monitor Iowa and Iowa State athletes to see if they were using smartphone apps to gamble.
Republican Representative Megan Jones of Sioux Rapids says it appears the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation spied on people in the Iowa Capitol without a warrant.
Jones says the state agency involved has refused to answer questions, so Jones brought the situation up during debate on the House floor last week.
A state investigation using software to monitor sports betting on smartphones resulted in at least 35 athletes and team staff from Iowa and Iowa State being charged with gambling illegally and student athletes lost all or part of their NCAA eligibility. As for the alleged round of testing at the Iowa Capitol, Jones says everyone who enters the Capitol should have an expectation of data privacy and that would be violated if their phones were being monitored.
Jones says lawmakers have concerns about the culture in the Division of Criminal Investigation.
According to Representative Jones, information about the DCI’s testing at the Capitol was revealed in documents related to a lawsuit that’s challenging the state’s investigation of an athlete charged with illegal gambling.
A spokesperson for the Iowa Department of Public Safety says during the course of training, different areas were used for what she calls “demonstrative purposes” to show where sports betting apps had been opened, but she says at no point was any personally identifiable information accessed or used in any fashion.
