Gazette Daily News Briefing, August 2
This is Stephen Schmidt from the Gazette Digital News Desk, and I’m here with your update for Wednesday, August 2.
According to the National Weather Service it will be mostly cloudy in the Cedar Rapids area Wednesday with a high near 85 degrees. There will be a 30 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms overnight into Thursday.
Three Iowa State student-athletes and one former athlete were charged Tuesday with tampering with records, a result of the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation’s inquiry into sports gambling.
The Story County Attorney’s Office filed criminal complaints against ISU quarterback Hunter Dekkers, wrestler Paniro Johnson, offense lineman Dodge Sauser and former ISU defensive lineman Eyioma Uwazurike. Tampering with records is an aggravated misdemeanor.
The current and former student-athletes are accused of engaging in schemes with other people to disguise their identities and “manipulate online/mobile transactions in order to create the appearance” that their sports wagers were being conducted by other people.
The criminal complaint against Dekkers, who started all 12 games for the Cyclones last season, alleges that he placed wagers on approximately 26 Cyclone sporting events, including a 2021 football game against Oklahoma State when he was a sophomore backup quarterback. He did not play in that game.
In addition to facing criminal penalties, Dekkers, Johnson and Sauser could lose all of their remaining eligibility because of NCAA rules that bar student-athletes from betting on their own games or any other sports at an individual’s own institution.
A police lieutenant testified Tuesday that the mother of a man charged with attempting to rob and kill a woman last year on the University of Iowa campus helped sell the family vehicle before taking her son to a Chicago airport to skip the country — a week before his trial was set to start in Johnson County.
UI police Lt. Travis Tyrrell said police were alerted that the GPS ankle monitor of Ali Younes, 20, had been cut May 6, 2022, in Northwest Iowa’s O’Brien County. He lived there with his parents, Lima Younes, who is on trial this week, and Alfred Younes, charged separately in the case.
Lima Younes is charged with escape from custody, a felony. She is accused of aiding and abetting her son to intentionally escape the GPS-monitored house arrest. If convicted, she faces up to five years in prison. The trial is expected to last all week.
According to a criminal complaint, Ali Younes on April 25, 2022, followed a woman on foot, tackled her near the UI Art Building West, strangled her until she lost consciousness and stole her earrings valued at $20,000. He was facing trial on attempted murder, first-degree robbery and first-degree theft charges.
Ali Younes remains a fugitive because Jordan doesn’t have an extradition treaty with the United States. Tyrrell, under cross exam, said he was allowed to live in Sutherland with an ankle monitor while on house arrest.
