Read the search warrant that police used to raid the Marion County Record’s offices
On Friday, police in the small town of Marion, Kansas, raided a local newspaper’s office.
They confiscated computers, cell phones and other documents from Marion County Record staff, sparking outcry from press freedom advocates around the country.
Police say their permission to carry out the seizures was spelled out in a search warrant signed by a judge. You can read the warrant below.
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Marion County Record Search Warrant by The Kansas City Star on Scribd
The alleged crimes
A few details stand out in this two-page document, which was signed by Magistrate Judge Laura Viar around 9 a.m. on Friday. The first is the two crimes listed on the warrant: “identity theft” and “unlawful acts concerning computers.”
“Identity theft” is broadly defined in Kansas law as obtaining, possessing or using personal identifying information about someone with the intent to defraud them or “misrepresent” them in order to bring them “economic or bodily harm.”
Kari Newell, a local restaurant owner, had recently claimed at a city council meeting that the Marion County Record used “illegal methods” to learn of her past DUI conviction. The newspaper never published information about the DUI.
Under Kansas law, “unlawful acts concerning computers” are defined mostly as cybercrimes like hacking. However, one provision mentions using a computer “to defraud or to obtain money, property, services or any other thing of value by means of false or fraudulent pretense or representation.”
We don’t know exactly what evidence led Judge Viar to believe that either of these crimes were committed in the Marion County Record newsroom. But the warrant also mentions Newell by name — several times.
Kari Newell
Kari Newell, a Marion restaurant owner, is at the center of Friday’s search warrant authorizing the police raid. Three of the 15 items the warrant authorizes police to seize mention her by name.
List items 4 and 12 refer generally to documents, records and correspondences related to Newell.
List item 13 is more specific, describing evidence that internet access was used in the office to “participate in the identity theft of Kari Newell.”
Newell’s disdain for the local newspaper was evident before the raid occurred. She reportedly had the newspaper’s editor and a reporter removed from her restaurant by police during an event with a local Congressman earlier this month.
At an August 7 city council meeting just days before the raid, Newell accused the newspaper of “illegally obtaining” information about her past DUI conviction. And in a statement made afterwards, she described the paper as having a “reputation of contortion.”
Other notable details
Several list items on the warrant refer to devices used to access the Kansas Department of Revenue records website. This is a public website through which anyone can make requests for publicly available records under the Kansas Open Records Act.
Another line item specifies which devices police were allowed to seize. The warrant instructs them to conduct a “preview search” of all the digital devices on the premises, and not to seize ones “which have not been involved in the identity theft.”
We don’t know exactly how police were supposed to determine which devices were potentially used in identity theft, but we do know that at least one reporter’s personal cell phone was taken away.
The Star’s Jonathan Shorman contributed to this report.
Do you have more questions about why police raided a local newspaper in a small Kansas town? Ask the Service Journalism team at kcq@kcstar.com.
