City of Newton, IA, Chief of Police Robert Burdess,
Attached is my complaint to the Iowa Supreme Court Attorney Disciplinary Board regarding documented misconduct by Jasper County, IA, Attorney Scott Nicholson. I am currently preparing a separate complaint against City of Newton, IA, Attorney Matthew Brick, which will include certified court documents from the San Diego East County Superior Court—providing evidence of valid court orders that you and your officers chose to disregard in August 2019.
Simultaneously, the evidentiary record shows your decision to conceal public records related to your department’s mishandling of an incident involving domestic abuse and military sexual trauma (MST)—an incident that spanned from December 2016 through January 2022. The record further indicates you attempted to criminalize an Iowa public records requester under Iowa Code § 708.7, while suppressing access to records documenting your department’s failure to protect the victim.
Pursuant to Iowa Code Chapter 22, I hereby request the following public records:
- A copy of the oath your law enforcement officers, including yourself, speak before becoming law enforcement officers within the municipal city limits of the City of Newton, IA.
- A copy of the oldest electronic mail public record within your desktop Outlook mail client’s “Sent” folder.
- A copy of the oldest electronic mail public record within your “Sent” folder, located at: https://mail.newtongov.org.
- Public records showing the identity and annual income of the City of Newton, IA’s information system’s manager for what evidence indicates is the City of Newton, IA’s local or contracted Microsoft Exchange Server 2019.
Attorney Brick has publicly represented that the City of Newton’s Exchange server retains email records for no longer than 30 days. However, the contents of your authenticated Outlook Web Access account will confirm whether messages older than 30 days exist on the City of Newton, IA’s, mail server. If they do, that alone constitutes evidence that Attorney Brick and the City’s leadership have misrepresented the availability and location where the city’s public records are stored and preserved (See: Iowa Code § 22.1(3)(a)) since 2022.
The following officials are implicated in this alleged misrepresentation:
Elected Leadership
Mayor Evelyn George
Ward 1 City Council Member Mark Hallam
Ward 2 City Council Member Melissa Dalton
Ward 3 City Council Member Stacy Simbro (Elected 2023)
Ward 4 City Council Member Steve Mullan (Appointed 2024)
City Council Member (At Large) Joel Mills (Elected 2023)
City Council Member (At Large) Randy Ervin
Appointed Leadership
City of Newton, IA, Administrator Matt Muckler
City of Newton, IA, City Clerk Katrina Davis
City of Newton, IA, Chief of Police Robert Burdess
The historical record strongly indicates that you will once again remain silent—shielded by entitlement and the ongoing misconduct of City of Newton, IA, Attorney Matthew Brick, who has repeatedly lied (misrepresenting Iowa Code § 22.7 and 22.7(5)) to conceal public records tied to the evidence supporting your failure to protect a victim of MST and domestic abuse.
For your awareness, I have registered the trade name Cipher Hunter in Marshall County, IA. I will be submitting my application to the Iowa Department of Public Safety within 90 days to obtain a private investigator license to focus on investigations pertaining to misconduct within Iowa law enforcement, State of Iowa licensed attorneys, and public officials. Upon conclusion of my review of Newton’s Exchange mail server operations, I will attend future City of Newton public meetings and will offer volunteer support to any resident who believes their rights have been violated by your department.
Chief Burdess, the days of concealing public records, retaliating against Iowa Code Chapter 23 complainants with false allegations of criminal conduct supported by zero evidence, and initiating unlawful restrictions against innocent citizens—are over.
Active duty service members sacrifice time with their families to defend you, your wife, and your children’s rights and liberties. And yet, the evidence reflects your abandonment of a veteran seeking help, your criminalization of lawful records requests, and your silence behind a city attorney’s repeated lies (City of Newton, IA, Attorney Matthew Brick). If you will not provide veterans (and citizens) with the same honor, courage, and commitment they gave in service to you and your family’s freedoms—then I will work to hold you accountable pursuant to the Iowa Code and Iowa Rules of the Court to stand in defense of those you have failed to protect, and the evidence supports that you continue to victimize. Suppose those you have failed to protect are too weary to speak—then I will defend their rights and liberties as I have for nearly 3 decades.
You have two choices, Chief of Police Burdess:
- You can demonstrate what your badge truly represents by releasing the requested records and acknowledging the evidence of past misconduct under your command; or
- You can provide a single email dated within the last 30 days, as claimed by City Attorney Matthew Brick, and challenge me to reveal what your badge has come to symbolize.
Frankly, Chief, I don’t give a damn which path you choose.
The Rise Above Tyranny’s Enforcement
Law enforcement work in accordance with our laws that is not sanctioned by the state is not unlawful if we have the honor, courage, and commitment to prove and present evidence showing the state’s violations of our laws.
Respectfully,
Cipher Hunter
Michael J. Merritt, USN (Ret.)
Founder, Cipher Hunter
Information Warfare Specialist
Information Systems Manager
📍 2510 S 6th St. D24
Marshalltown, IA 50158
📞 (641) 387-9935
✉️ mj.merritt@cipherhunter.net
🌐 cipherhunter.net
“Tyranny breeds within government infrastructure that does not provide information with the same freedoms, rights, and liberties as the citizens who produced it.”
Legal Disclaimer:Cipher Hunter (2025-00002035) is a registered trade name in Marshall County, IA. Cipher Hunter is a division within the Phoenix Harbor network of web properties.