Kansas police raid newspaper office, KBI joins investigation
MARION COUNTY, Kans. (NBC, KYMA/KECY) - The publisher of the local newspaper in Marion County, Kansas speaks out after police raided his home and office last week.
The Marion County Record's publisher, Eric Meyers, says law enforcement took computers, hard drives and personal cell phones, and he says the police investigation is unfounded.
Meyers says there were questions about a story one week before police came into his business. He says his newspaper notified the sheriff and the police chief that they'd obtained documents from the state that a local business owner had driven on a suspended license after getting a DUI.
"They started the investigation because we told them this document had come into us with the allegation that police were ignoring the driving for 14 years or something like that," Meyers detailed.
No plans to publish the story
Meyers says his newspaper told law enforcement they had no plans to publish the information in a story, but one week later he says police came into his newspaper and seized his equipment.
He says the raid was an unnecessary show of power and a violation of the freedom of the press.
In a statement, the Marion Police Department says they had a right to search a new agency office, if a journalist was suspected of a crime listed in a search warrant.
In addition, the Kansas Bureau of Investigation (KBI) says it assigned an agent to the case earlier in the week, at the request of the Marion County attorney. The KBI says it was asked to join an investigation into allegations of illegal access of confidential criminal justice information. However, the KBI was not present when the warrants were served.
Meyer says for now, even though the paper lost vital equipment taken by police, the plan is to still publish the weekly issue Tuesday.
"We will publish the newspaper. We will publish the newspaper if Ihave to grab a pencil and write it on a piece of paper and hand it to everybody as they walk around the town," Meyers stated.
