Kansas officials to pay $3M over raid on Marion newspaper

Officials in Marion County, Kansas, agreed Monday to pay over $3 million in damages following a police raid on a local newspaper and two homes in August 2023.

The newspaper, the Marion County Record, said the county admitted wrongdoing in the incident. The raids were conducted by the Marion County Sheriff’s Office on the newspaper’s office and two homes, those of the paper’s owner, Joan Meyer, and former Marion Vice Mayor Ruth Herbel. 

“In our democracy, the press is a watchdog against abuse,” Record publisher Eric Meyer, the son of Joan Meyer, said. “If the watchdog itself is the target of abuse, and all it does is roll over, democracy suffers.”

The two-and-a-half hour raid on the Meyers’ home, the Record said, contributed to Joan Meyer’s death of sudden cardiac arrest two days later. As part of the agreement, the county awarded $1 million to Joan Meyer’s estate and $200,000 to Eric Meyer, whose two computers and cell phone were seized in the raid. 

Two Record reporters, Deb Gruver and Phyllis Zorn, also received $250,000 and $600,000, respectively. Both have resigned since the incident, citing the stress of working in Marion County, the Record said. 

The Record itself received $300,000. During the raid on the newspaper’s office, police seized three computers and a file server, disrupting business operations in the process.

Herbel, whose computer and cell phone were seized in the raid on her home, received $650,000. The Record said that the raid “aggravated” the dementia of her husband, Ron. 

“The Sheriff’s Office wishes to express its sincere regrets to Eric and Joan Meyer and Ruth and Ronald Herbel for its participation in the drafting and execution of the Marion Police Department’s search warrants on their homes and the Marion County Record,” the sheriff’s office said in its apology to the parties. 

Cheri Bentz, the Record’s business manager, previously settled with the county for $50,000. The county’s insurance policies will cover $3 million of the $3.05 million awarded.

The raids were conducted amid a law enforcement probe into the newspaper over allegations it illegally obtained and used personal information about local restaurant owner Kari Newell. Newell had accused the newspaper of invading her privacy after it obtained copies of her driving record, including a 2008 conviction for drunken driving. 

The Associated Press contributed.