Auburn police arrested David Rudolph Jenrath on Monday on “felony charges of theft of trade secrets and computer tampering.”
Jenrath, a former staff member of the Auburn Tigers football team, is accused of sharing Auburn’s recruiting plans with up to 11 other schools.
Court filings show that the former staffer transmitted “confidential athletics information” without the program’s consent. This includes “disclosing, using, controlling or taking computer programs and data ‘with the intent to harass Auburn University Athletics by disclosing trade secrets of Auburn University Athletics to their opponents.”
The 24-year-old Jenrath was retained when new head coach Alex Golesh took over the program in January. He lasted only a few months and was fired in the spring. Jenrath reportedly used a fake email address, referred to as “Don Julio,” to share 10 documents containing information on high school recruits the Tigers were targeting for the classes of 2027, 2028, and 2029.
The information in the documents pertained to the school’s coaches’ evaluations of recruits, including who Auburn was and was not targeting.
Also reportedly included in the subject line of the emails was Golesh’s home address.
A CBSSports report on the arrest noted that Jenrath’s LinkedIn account listed him as a personnel scouting assistant at Auburn, with duties including helping with running backs, special teams, and recruitment. Since the story was released, the LinkedIn profile has been deleted.
Jenrath was found out after one of the email recipients turned them in to Auburn. Police reportedly investigated the anonymous emails for two months before finally identifying Jenrath as the source.
The 24-year-old turned himself over to authorities on Monday after warrants were issued for his arrest, and he was sent to Lee County Jail, where he was held on a $15,000 bond.
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