In the ongoing investigation into the suspension and arrest of several college athletes, emails shed new light on the motivation of at least one investigator.
Iowa State Bureau of Criminal Investigation Special Agent Chris Adkins wrote in an email to colleagues in 2023 that the Iowa betting investigation “will draw attention not only to the public eye, but also to the Commissioner and even the Legislature,” according to the AP.
The emails shed another light on investigations that are beginning to look like abuse of power. The bottom line is dozens of athletes from the University of Iowa and Iowa State University have either been charged with crimes in the state or suspended from the NCAA.
In some cases, the survey could potentially give players a shot into their professional careers, including then-IOWA quarterback Hunter Deckers. 스포츠토토
The investigators had an agenda
The NCAA banned Deckers from making about 366 bets on Iowa State teams, including football teams. About 297 of those bets were placed before Deckers turned 21. In Iowa, sports betting is legal for people 21 and older. It’s also an NCAA violation for student-athlete betting. And in all sports, betting on your own team is considered the biggest violation.
The AP obtained an update on the Iowa betting investigation through a request for open records. The emails show investigators have an agenda.
“If they are suspended or deprived of scholarships, so be it,” Adkins wrote in an email.
In another, he wrote, “In cases like this, if we have a higher profile, we can show our values to those in power with a warning that we will oversee the situation, and hopefully in the future we will try to slow down these kinds of things.
“And if we go after this and it hits the media and people start asking why they didn’t become criminals, we can use it as a platform for legislators to push for amendments to the law going forward.”
Data Tools Misused in Iowa Betting Survey
The Iowa betting investigation began ahead of the 2023 football season. Crimestoppers allegedly misused data and tools from geolocation company Geocomply. Without a warrant, investigators tracked betting activities first in Iowa, and then inside dormitories and athletic facilities in Iowa.
GeoComply, a widely used Vancouver-based geolocation service, has a tool to track available betting locations. According to the Washington Post, GeoComply shared a tool that allows criminal investigators in Iowa to track multiple groups of betting activities. There was no policy on how investigators could use the tool. It is possible that investigators broke state laws about how the tool was used.
