BLM Protesters Slapped With Rare Charge For Showing Police Document On TV

Prosecutors in Iowa have charged two Black Lives Matters (BLM) protesters with a 220-year-old rarely used "intelligence data" law that is usually targeted at top guns like former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn. Activist Alexandria Dea and a fellow protestor could face a five-year prison term for displaying a police memo during a television news broadcast.

The felony is defined as “unauthorized dissemination of intelligence data”. The “data” was a confidential police document that was displayed to the public during a television news broadcast.

How Dea obtained the Des Moines Police Department bulletin may be a factor in how the case is prosecuted as it was taken from an officer’s back pocket during a confrontation between the police and protesters. In addition to the leak charge, she also faces a felony theft charge for allegedly stealing the bulletin and throwing an officer’s radio that had fallen to the ground. That alone could cost her up to 10 years in prison.

The protest later moved to the Polk County Jail to demand the release of those arrested during the clash. The pilfered document ended up with 21-year-old Viet Tran, who displayed it to the cameras of WOI-TV, an ABC affiliate, during an interview, the complaint read. The bulletin included photos of suspects who were wanted in the destruction of a Des Moines police car during a June 20 protest.

The intent of the 1799 Logan Act section, according to the Iowa Judicial Branch, is to punish officers and others who share information that could undermine criminal investigations or violate privacy protections.

Des Moines police spokesman Sgt. Paul Parizek commented, “This is my first experience with it ever being applied to anyone outside law enforcement, but obviously the circumstances were pretty unique.”

He referred to the first page of the document with the warning that it should not be shared or released publicly at the risk of violating Iowa code. He said, “Those documents are not supposed to be shared. It’s actually written on them. As soon as they did that, the charge was appropriate.”

Dea’s friend and co-protester Jaylen Cavil said, “They are attempting to scare and silence us by stacking these fabricated felony charges on young people. They know that this can ruin people’s lives, and that’s why they’re doing it.”

Dea is free on a $15,000 bond and has declined to make any comments. The reporter from WOI-TV was not charged and the station did not make any comments. Viet Tran remains in jail on claims that he violated the terms of his probation resulting from an assault case at an earlier protest.