Fired UI Athletics IT director accused of luring teenagers eligible for unemployment benefits

IOWA CITY – A former University of Iowa Athletics IT support consultant who – after 12 years on the job – was placed on paid administrative leave in January following his arrest on suspicion of soliciting minors for sex is eligible to receive unemployment benefits, according to an administrative law judge.

The reason for his termination on March 11 was not disqualifying workplace misconduct, but rather the criminal offense of giving his free tickets to employee women's basketball games to his adult son, who then resold them on the open market through a third-party website.

“(UI Athletics) has a ticket policy regarding the issuance of complimentary tickets to employees,” an administrative law judge said in a ruling. “This policy allows employees to transfer these tickets to family members, but specifically prohibits sales on third-party websites.”

“The consequence of this is the loss of ticket privileges. The policy does not list any work-related consequences.”

When Mark J. Sevcik, 66, told his UI superiors in March that his son was the one who sold his free tickets to the Hawkeye women's basketball team's games against Michigan on Feb. 15, Illinois on Feb. 17 and Ohio State on Feb. 18, he was on paid administrative leave after being arrested on Jan. 29 on suspicion of two counts of soliciting a minor for sex and three counts of aggravated misdemeanor for distributing obscene material to minors by telephone.

That criminal case is ongoing, as is another charge of obstruction of official conduct brought against Sevcik after investigators served a search warrant on him at McDonald's on Jan. 3 and attempted to confiscate his phone.

“(Sevcik) broke away from officers and attempted to hide his phone,” the arresting officers wrote in their report. “(Sevcik) attempted to turn off his phone and (he) had to be physically restrained to access his phone.”

Arrest in January

The investigation that led to Sevcik's arrest began a year ago on August 21, 2023, when an undercover agent began chatting online with a person using the name “Groot!!” and said he wanted to be friends with her, according to a search warrant application.

The undercover agent posed as a 14-year-old girl and gave “Groot!!” a phone number. He identified himself as a white man in his 30s who lived in Cedar Rapids but often traveled to Iowa City. They communicated over the next few months and exchanged explicit material, the warrant application states.

“Groot!!” eventually proposed a face-to-face meeting while simultaneously maintaining a separate relationship with another undercover agent who was also posing as a young girl.

Using the phone numbers and usernames, investigators were able to track down a Gmail address associated with Sevcik. Officers received further evidence of his identity when he purchased women's underwear for one of the teenage girls and then sent her an Amazon.com confirmation with his name and address.

“'Groot!!' agreed to meet with (the undercover agent) during the week of January 1, 2024 to hand over the underwear to (the officer),” the warrant application states. He is also said to have sent a picture of himself “confirming that 'Groot!!' was Mark Sevcik.”

Officers arrested him on January 29 and he pleaded not guilty in March.

“Credibility of the witnesses”

As Iowa Athletics' assistant IT director and help desk manager, Sevcik earned $62,830 at the time of his arrest.

In mid-February, while on paid leave after his arrest, Sevcik talked to his adult son about giving him his free tickets to the women's basketball team “for the University of Iowa's historic season led by one of its most famous athletes,” according to an administrative law judge's review of his unemployment benefits application.

Sevcik told investigators that he believed his son would use the tickets to attend the event in person, so he logged into the ticket application on his son's phone and then returned the device to him.

In March, an assistant human resources manager for the athletic department received information that Sevcik had put his tickets on the open market for sale. When asked about it, Sevcik said he had not known about it because the emails confirming the sale had ended up in his spam folder.

On March 11, UI fired Sevcik for violating policies by sharing his login and password information with his son and allowing him to sell the tickets on the open market.

But an administrative law judge took Sevcik at his word and found that his actions did not constitute “disqualifying misconduct.”

“The decision in this case is based at least in part on the credibility of the witnesses,” the administrative judge’s decision states.

“After considering the credibility of the witnesses who testified during the hearing, reviewing the evidence presented by the parties, considering the relevant factors listed above, and using her own common sense and experience, the Administrative Law Judge concludes that plaintiff's version is more credible than the employer's recollection of these events,” she wrote. “In particular, I find it credible that plaintiff logged in using his son's phone… I also find it credible that plaintiff's spam folder concealed his son's transmission of the tickets.”

According to the judge, disqualifying misconduct includes lying on an application, knowingly breaking a company rule, intentionally destroying company property, consuming alcohol or drugs on company premises, coming to work under the influence of alcohol, any actions that endanger the safety of others, and imprisonment for a misdemeanor or felony.

The university argued that Sevcik should be fired for two reasons: first, for sharing the tickets with a third-party website, and second, for sharing his login information and password.

The judge rejected both claims, starting with the first claim that Sevcik's actions constituted grounds for termination.

“The employer’s guidelines only provide for loss of ticket entitlement as a possible penalty,” the decision states.

Regarding the sharing of his login information, the judge concluded that Sevcik's decision to log in using his son's phone did not violate the “spirit of these rules.”

“Under either theory, the employer fails to prove that the plaintiff was guilty of misconduct that would result in disqualification,” the judge wrote.

Unemployment benefits are paid from the Iowa State Unemployment Insurance Trust Fund and are financed exclusively through a “special tax on employers.”

Vanessa Miller covers higher education for The Gazette.

Comments: (319) 339-3158; [email protected]