STORY COUNTY, IOWA — The attorney for a former Iowa State Cyclone football player charged as part of a gambling sting is arguing that his clients and six other defendants were unlawfully targeted because of their status within the athletic department. Eyioma Uwazurike was charged on Tuesday with Tampering with Records for allegedly using an account in another person’s name to place bets on sporting events in Iowa. Uwazurike, now a member of the Denver Broncos, has been suspended by the NFL for at least one full season for gambling on Broncos games in 2022.
On Thursday, an attorney for Uwazurike filed a Motion for Discovery in Story County requesting details of the investigation into his client and proffering that his client was unfairly singled out for prosecution.
“The defense believes that the State used Geofence, or similar data collection methods, as well as phone pinging data to capture data on the Iowa and Iowa State campuses after which students and other athletes were eliminated as targets unless they belonged to specific male athletic teams, which if true, would be a violation of the Defendant’s constitutional rights as the State is not allowed to use discretion when choosing who to apply the law to,” attorney Van Plumb suggests in his request for documents.
Specifically, Plumb is requesting information on all of the individuals identified in the state’s sting operation who were not charged with crimes. Plumb is requesting all information including cell phone data, Geofence information, information taken from Google and any other warrants or other information used to build a case against Uwazurike and the other athletes as well as those the state may have chosen not to charge.
Others charged by the state include current Iowa State quarterback Hunter Dekkers and former Iowa Hawkeye kicker Aaron Blom – both of whom are accused of betting on games for which they dressed by using gambling accounts created under their mothers’ names.
The state has not responded to the request from Uwazurike’s attorney.
