Newsclipping summary:
FEAR-List Bulletin posted by John Paff, 1-7-96
ANOTHER ILLEGAL DIP INTO THE FORFEITURE FUNDS
According to the Minneapolis _Star Tribune_ of December 21 and 22, 1995, a veteran city police narcotics officer is under investigation for stealing nearly $200,000 from the city's asset forfeiture trust fund. Stanley J. Capistrant, the officer under investigation, handled the forfeited funds for the past six years.
According to police captain Stephen Strehlow, the forfeiture fund accounting system has "built in checks" to prevent embezzlement. Unfortunately, no one had monitored the accounting records for years, and it wasn't until a recent audit that anyone realized that the cash was missing.
Narcotics unit supervisor Bernie Bottema, who was "devastated" by the incident, partially attributed the embezzlement to the brisk business the city's forfeiture squads were doing lately. He was quoted as saying, "When the seizure business started, it probably could have been handled by one person on a book. But it became too much for one person to handle."
The FBI and U.S. Attorney were called in to investigate, because it was felt that the Hennepin County Attorney's office, which would ordinarily conduct the investigation, may have a conflict of interest since that office receives a share of the city's forfeited funds.
A 1989 analysis of the forfeiture fund by the city's Budget and Evaluation Division had found several "severe trouble spots" in he procedures for handling seized and forfeited cash and property.
According to an internal audit that followed the Division's report, cash receipt were not numbered, leading the auditor to conclude that the procedure "appears to be an opportunity for an officer to, for example, seize $1,000, list that amount on one form and give a copy to the suspect, then prepare a second form stating that the seized amount was only $500 and pocket the balance."
Unfortunately, the city elected not to implement all the financial safeguards recommended by the Division and the auditor.