The police chief who led a raid on a local Kansas newspaper claimed a reporter impersonated a restaurant owner to access her DUI records, court documents show.

Cops raided the Marion County Record offices on August 11 and the newspaper's co-owner Joan Meyer, 98, died the next day.

Restaurant owner Kari Newell, 46, triggered the searches after she accused the paper of getting her 2008 DUI information illegally which would have disrupted her request for a liquor license.

Marion Police Chief Gideon Cody wrote in an affidavit that Marion County Record reporter Phyllis Zorn either impersonated Newell or lied about her reasoning to retrieve the records.

But Zorn, publisher and editor Eric Meyer and the newspaper's attorney said on Sunday that no laws were broken when she accessed a public state website for information on the restaurant owner.

The police chief who led a raid on a local Kansas newspaper claimed a reporter impersonated a restaurant owner or lied about her intentions to access her DUI records, according to court documents

Marion Police Chief Gideon Cody wrote in an affidavit that Marion County Record reporter Phyllis Zorn (pictured) either impersonated Newell or lied about her reasoning to retrieve the records

Authorities raided the offices of the Marion County Record on August 11 and the newspaper's co-owner Joan Meyer, 98, died the next day following the stress and grief she felt

Police seized computers, personal cellphones and a router from the newspaper in the raid, but all items were released Wednesday after the county prosecutor concluded there wasn't enough evidence to justify the action.

Affidavits showed that Zorn's obtaining of Newell's driving record was the reason behind the raid.

The newspaper, acting on a tip, checked the public website of the Kansas Department of Revenue for the status of Newell's driver's license as it related to a 2008 conviction for drunk driving.

Police chief Cody wrote in the affidavit that the Department of Revenue told him that those who downloaded the information were Record reporter Zorn and someone using the name 'Kari Newell.'

He wrote that he contacted Newell who said 'someone obviously stole her identity.'

'Downloading the document involved either impersonating the victim or lying about the reasons why the record was being sought,' Cody added.

License records are normally confidential under state law, but can be accessed under certain circumstances, the affidavit cited.

The online user can request their own records but must provide a driver's license number and date of birth.

The records may also be provided in other instances, such as to lawyers for use in a legal matter; for insurance claim investigations; and for research projects about statistical reports with the caveat that the personal information won't be disclosed.

Publisher and editor Meyer said Zorn actually contacted the Department of Revenue before her online search and was instructed how to search records.

The reporter, asked to respond to the allegations that she used Newell's name to obtain Newell's personal information, said, 'My response is I went to a Kansas Department of Revenue website and that's where I got the information.'

She added: 'Not to my knowledge was anything illegal or wrong.'

Restaurant owner Kari Newell, 46, triggered the searches after she accused the newspaper of getting her 2008 DUI information illegally which would have disrupted her request for a liquor license

Zorn, asked to respond to the allegations that she used Newell's name to obtain Newell's personal information, said, 'My response is I went to a Kansas Department of Revenue website and that's where I got the information'

Publisher and editor Meyer (pictured) said Zorn contacted the Department of Revenue before her online search and was instructed how to search records

Rhodes, the newspaper's attorney, said Zorn's actions were legal under both state and federal laws.

Using the subject's name 'is not identity theft,' Rhodes said. 'That's just the way of accessing that person's record.'

The newspaper had Newell's driver's license number and date of birth because a source provided it, unsolicited, Meyer said.

It decided not to write about Newell's record. But when she revealed at a subsequent City Council meeting that she had driven while her license was suspended, that was reported.

Along with the raid on the Meyer residence and the newspaper offices being raided, Marion City Vice Mayor Ruth Herbel's home was also pillaged after Newell made a personal fiery attack on her in public last Monday.

During the council meeting on August 7 - four days before the raids - Newell stood up and accused the newspaper and Herbel of illegally obtaining information about her DUI arrest.

Clips show the meeting descended into chaos - with people speaking over one another, hands slamming on desks, and participants being stunned by Newell's incendiary accusations.

Newell, who owns restaurant Chef's Plate at Parlour 1886, took to the floor of the council meeting to make the smoldering accusations.

She was down on the agenda notes as speaking about 'liquor/caterer license for Chef's Parlor 1886' but instead she started threatening legal action against co-owner Meyer, who was present, and his newspaper.

It's understood that after airing her grievances at the chaotic council meeting, she filed a report to the police, who issued a search warrant, and instigated the raids.

Newell claims that her information was also shared with councilmember Herbel - whose home was also raided - and accused her of 'maliciously' sharing it.

'My concern is that a council members would recklessly and negligently share that information with others, without doing her due diligence making sure that the information they were sharing was at least legal to share,' she said.

Meyer denied sharing the information with Herbel.

At this point, multiple voices, including councilmembers, start to speak over one another in shock following Newell's accusation.

One then slams his hand against the desk, points in Newell's direction, and shouts: 'Order! You don't have the floor, if you wanna speak you can speak in a few minutes.'

An empty spot on reporter Zorn's desk shows where the tower for her computer was before law enforcement officers seized it

Newell then made the threat in front of the council: 'This is going to become a case, that's why. I just want to make you aware.'

Meyer then took to the council floor to defend himself and add context to Newell's claims, saying: 'We were sent last week some information about Ms Newell, which we were concerned was obtained illegally.

'We received it from someone on a social media message. We consulted an attorney on whether it was privileged information. Our attorney's advice was no.

'Nevertheless, we chose not to disseminate it any further.'

He added that he passed the information over to the Sheriff's office.

Herbel then asked Eric Meyer: 'Was it shared with me?'

He said: 'Certainly not by me. We did not obtain it. Someone sent it to us. If you don't believe it you can ask the Sherriff and police chief, they have messages I sent last Friday.'

Herbel said law enforcement took her laptop and cellphone, and police showed her the same generic search warrant they showed Eric Meyer and the newsroom during those raids - saying they were 'investigating identify theft and unlawful acts concerning computers.'

The police chief who led the raid, Gideon Cody, had recently left the Kansas City Police Department where he was a captain after 24 years. And Meyer's newspaper had subsequently looked into the alleged sexual misconduct charges against him, he told journalist Marisa Kabas

She added that her 88-year-old disabled husband, who suffers with dementia, was 'traumatized' by the raid and was screaming her name while police pillaged their home for their personal belongings.

The councilwoman told the Kansas City Star that her home raid was 'ridiculous' and the search on the newspaper run by Meyer and his now dead mother was an 'invasion.'

The investigation into whether the newspaper broke state laws continues, now led by the Kansas Bureau of Investigation (KBI).

State Attorney General Kris Kobach has said he doesn't see the KBI's role as investigating the conduct of the police.

Some legal experts believe the raid on August 11 violated a federal privacy law that protects journalists from having their newsrooms searched.

While others say it violated a Kansas law that makes it more difficult to force reporters and editors to disclose their sources or unpublished material.

Cody defended the raid in a Facebook post soon after it happened, saying the federal law shielding journalists from newsroom searches makes an exception specifically for 'when there is reason to believe the journalist is taking part in the underlying wrongdoing.'

The Record received an outpouring of support from other news organizations and media groups after the raid.

Meyer said it has picked up at least 4,000 additional subscribers, enough to double the size of its press run, though many of the new subscriptions are digital.

He blamed the stress from the raid for the death of his mother Joan on August 12. Her funeral services were Saturday.

The search warrant for the raid

Meyer blamed the stress from the raid for the death of his mother Joan on August 12. Her funeral services were Saturday

She collapsed and died 'mid-sentence' after refusing to eat due to being in complete shock over the raid.

Before Joan died, she told The Wichita Eagle about the raids: 'These are Hitler tactics, and something has to be done.'

Meyer said that when he woke his mother to offer her breakfast she died mid-sentence.

'I am perturbed — I carefully chose that word — as all get out about them raiding our office, but what bothers me most is a 98-year-old woman spent her last day on earth feeling under attack by bullies who invaded her house.'

He did not give more details about the newspaper's probe into the police chief, but said: 'I really don't think it would be advisable for me to say what it was we were investigating, other than to characterize the charges as serious.

It emerged on Tuesday that Cody was also being investigated by the newspaper over allegations of sexual misconduct.

Cody became chief of the Marion County Police Department in late April, after leaving the Kansas City police amid allegations of sexual misconduct.