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Ex-Auburn staffer arrested, accused of leaking trade secrets
A former Auburn football staff member has been accused of stealing trade secrets from the Tigers and sending them to their competitors, according to court records.
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Whew, shoutout Mr. Don Julio.
The Auburn Police Department announced Monday that David Rudolph Jenrath, 24, of Franklin, Tennessee, was arrested on charges of theft of trade secrets and computer tampering.
According to Auburn police, the investigation began after a business in the 300 block of South Donahue Drive reported that sensitive information had been stolen and distributed to competitors. Investigators said one of the competitors who received the information eventually turned it over to the business. Police identified Jenrath as the suspect and obtained warrants for his arrest. Jenrath later turned himself in to the Auburn Police Department on Monday, September 28, 2026, and was transported to the Lee County Jail, where he was being held on a $15,000 bond.
Jenrath’s publicly available LinkedIn profile lists him as a former Auburn Athletics employee. According to the profile, he worked as a Player Personnel Scouting Assistant focused on running backs and special teams from January through June 2026. His listed responsibilities included evaluating high school and transfer portal prospects, preparing scouting reports and recruiting summaries, assisting with opponent scouting and maintaining recruiting databases.
Jenrath was part of Hugh Freeze’s staff, and the new staff under Alex Golesh allowed him to stay on and earn an opportunity with the program. He worked in more of a student-assistant type role.
According to those sources, Jenrath was dismissed from Auburn’s football staff during the baseball Super Regional weekend after staff members saw him in the student section during a game. The sources said he had previously told Auburn personnel that he was sick and was not working because of that illness. After staff members saw him at the game, he was fired.
The sources said tensions remained between Jenrath and members of the Auburn football staff following his departure.
In late July, an anonymous email was sent to football personnel at roughly 11 other schools. The email came from an address using the name “Don Julio” and included 12 documents as attachments.
Sources said 10 of those documents contained recruiting evaluations involving prospects in Auburn’s 2027, 2028 and 2029 recruiting classes. The material included evaluations and notes from coaches and personnel staff about recruits.
The email’s subject line was also reportedly Golesh’s home address. Several schools that received the email reportedly forwarded the material back to Auburn.
Good on them for doing that, by the way.
Auburn personnel turned the information over to the Auburn Police Department. Investigators were eventually able to trace the email address back to Jenrath, according to sources.
The sources said Jenrath also continued contacting members of the Auburn football staff after the documents were distributed. They described anonymous phone calls in which the caller would remain silent before saying “Don Julio” and hanging up.
Sources also said Jenrath had recently posted on Instagram about having connections to people at Vanderbilt and Tennessee, and claimed to have provided information to them. Those sources said they were not aware of any additional sensitive Auburn information being provided to Tennessee.
Auburn, of course, plays at Tennessee this weekend.
The documents that were distributed did not contain Auburn’s playbook, NIL information or other details that would reveal the program’s plans, according to the sources. Instead, the information consisted primarily of recruiting evaluations and coaches’ notes about prospects.
A source familiar with the investigation said Auburn personnel believed the coaches’ evaluations and internal assessments qualified as trade secrets, which ultimately led to the criminal complaint.
The timing of the arrest also came shortly before Auburn’s trip to Tennessee. Sources said Auburn personnel wanted the situation addressed before the team traveled to Knoxville because of concerns that Jenrath could appear at the team’s hotel or otherwise cause a disruption.
According to the sources, a warrant was issued last week and Jenrath was notified that he needed to turn himself in. He did so Monday morning and was later released on bond.
Jenrath’s LinkedIn profile also lists an education history that includes the University of Tennessee. Sources said they were unable to find a record showing that he was enrolled at Tennessee.
According to Auburn police, the investigation began after a business in the 300 block of South Donahue Drive reported that sensitive information had been stolen and distributed to competitors. Investigators said one of the competitors who received the information eventually turned it over to the business. Police identified Jenrath as the suspect and obtained warrants for his arrest. Jenrath later turned himself in to the Auburn Police Department on Monday, September 28, 2026, and was transported to the Lee County Jail, where he was being held on a $15,000 bond.
Jenrath’s publicly available LinkedIn profile lists him as a former Auburn Athletics employee. According to the profile, he worked as a Player Personnel Scouting Assistant focused on running backs and special teams from January through June 2026. His listed responsibilities included evaluating high school and transfer portal prospects, preparing scouting reports and recruiting summaries, assisting with opponent scouting and maintaining recruiting databases.
WHAT SOURCES SAY HAPPENED
Sources familiar with the situation provided additional details to AuburnSports about what led to the investigation.Jenrath was part of Hugh Freeze’s staff, and the new staff under Alex Golesh allowed him to stay on and earn an opportunity with the program. He worked in more of a student-assistant type role.
According to those sources, Jenrath was dismissed from Auburn’s football staff during the baseball Super Regional weekend after staff members saw him in the student section during a game. The sources said he had previously told Auburn personnel that he was sick and was not working because of that illness. After staff members saw him at the game, he was fired.
The sources said tensions remained between Jenrath and members of the Auburn football staff following his departure.
In late July, an anonymous email was sent to football personnel at roughly 11 other schools. The email came from an address using the name “Don Julio” and included 12 documents as attachments.
Sources said 10 of those documents contained recruiting evaluations involving prospects in Auburn’s 2027, 2028 and 2029 recruiting classes. The material included evaluations and notes from coaches and personnel staff about recruits.
The email’s subject line was also reportedly Golesh’s home address. Several schools that received the email reportedly forwarded the material back to Auburn.
Good on them for doing that, by the way.
Auburn personnel turned the information over to the Auburn Police Department. Investigators were eventually able to trace the email address back to Jenrath, according to sources.
The sources said Jenrath also continued contacting members of the Auburn football staff after the documents were distributed. They described anonymous phone calls in which the caller would remain silent before saying “Don Julio” and hanging up.
Sources also said Jenrath had recently posted on Instagram about having connections to people at Vanderbilt and Tennessee, and claimed to have provided information to them. Those sources said they were not aware of any additional sensitive Auburn information being provided to Tennessee.
Auburn, of course, plays at Tennessee this weekend.
The documents that were distributed did not contain Auburn’s playbook, NIL information or other details that would reveal the program’s plans, according to the sources. Instead, the information consisted primarily of recruiting evaluations and coaches’ notes about prospects.
A source familiar with the investigation said Auburn personnel believed the coaches’ evaluations and internal assessments qualified as trade secrets, which ultimately led to the criminal complaint.
The timing of the arrest also came shortly before Auburn’s trip to Tennessee. Sources said Auburn personnel wanted the situation addressed before the team traveled to Knoxville because of concerns that Jenrath could appear at the team’s hotel or otherwise cause a disruption.
According to the sources, a warrant was issued last week and Jenrath was notified that he needed to turn himself in. He did so Monday morning and was later released on bond.
Jenrath’s LinkedIn profile also lists an education history that includes the University of Tennessee. Sources said they were unable to find a record showing that he was enrolled at Tennessee.