Illegal Newspaper Raid Contributed To Mom's Death, Paper's Owner Says

CHAMPAIGN, IL — A long-time University of Illinois journalism professor and associate dean of the school’s College of Media says a raid of the small-town newspaper he co-owns in Kansas contributed to the death of his mother.

Eric Meyer, who was at the university for 25 years between 1995 and 2021, said that police in Marion County, Kan., raided the offices of the Marion County Recorder late last week, days after the newspaper published a story about a local restaurateur who previously asked members of the newspaper’s staff to leave her business.

On Saturday, less than 24 hours after all five members of the local police department plus two sheriff's deputies raided the newspaper office and the home of the paper’s 98-year-old co-owner, Joan Meyer, the woman, and mother of Eric Meyer, died, the newspaper reported.

The raid raised questions about the legality of the police activity, which took place when officers showed up with a two-page search warrant signed by a local judge. According to a newspaper story in the Marion County Recorder, officers took Joan Meyer’s computer and Alexa smart speakers, and searched through her son’s bank records and investment statements.

The story said that Joan Meyer died after being “stressed beyond her limits and overwhelmed by hours of shock and grief.” The newspaper characterized the raid of Joan Meyer’s home and newspaper office as “illegal." The newspaper reported that Joan Meyer —who was healthy previous to the search — was unable to eat or sleep after the raid, and said she collapsed and died on Saturday.

• Related: Police Raid On Kansas Newspaper: Why Is It So Unusual? EXPLAINER

Eric Meyer said that the newspaper’s first priority is to publish this week, but said “We also want to make sure no other news organization is ever exposed to the Gestapo tactics we witnessed”.

The newspaper reported that the search warrant indicated that there was probable cause to believe identity theft and unlawful computer searches had taken place involving local business owner Kari Newell.

Police took four computers from the newspaper office as part of the raid, the Record reported.

Meyer told CNN that he and another newspaper reporter were at Newell’s coffee shop attending a reception for a local politician when they were asked to leave. Meyer said the reporter, Phyllis Zorn, had received a tip about a 2008 drunk driving arrest of the business’s owner, who had applied for a liquor license. However, according to a newspaper report, the Marion County Recorder verified the information about the DUI arrest, but decided not to publish a story.

Newell told CNN that she did throw the newspaper employees out because the publication had a reputation for “twisting and contorting comments within the community.

“When they came into the establishment, I quietly and politely asked them to exit,” Newell told CNN. “I didn’t feel that their constituents needed to be exposed to any risk of being misquoted.”

Newell told the network that she was surprised when the raid took place. Meyer said that in addition to computers, police also seized a file server and a backup file server.

“I’ve never seen anything like this, not in America,” Meyer told CNN. “This was an atomic flyswatter. They wanted to swat us, and they tried to do so."

On Saturday, the Marion Police Department addressed the situation in a Facebook post.

"Speaking in generalities, the federal Privacy Protection Act, 42 U.S.C. §§ 2000aa-2000aa-12, does protect journalists from most searches of newsrooms by federal and state law enforcement officials," the department posted. "... The Act requires criminal investigators to get a subpoena instead of a search warrant when seeking 'work product materials' and 'documentary materials' from the press, except in circumstances, including: (1) when there is reason to believe the journalist is taking part in the underlying wrongdoing."

Officials added, "The victim asks that we do all the law allows to ensure justice is served," and said, "As much as I would like to give everyone details on a criminal investigation I cannot. I believe when the rest of the story is available to the public, the judicial system that is being questioned will be vindicated."