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(updated 12/22/2023)
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(5/20/20 -- AZCentral)
Paul Petersen's ex-wife asks lawmakers to change law that let authorities seize her homes
Criminal justice reform advocates are pushing state legislation that would make it more difficult for government agencies to seize someone's assets before they are convicted of a crime. State law currently allows law enforcement and prosecutors to seize someone's house, vehicles and other assets before they are convicted. Prosecutors argue this is necessary to ensure criminals do not sell off or hide assets that could be used to pay restitution if they are convicted. But reform advocates say seizing someone's assets before they are found guilty violates people's rights and limits their financial ability to defend themselves.
Sen. Eddie Farnsworth, R-Gilbert, is sponsoring a bill that would clamp down on pre-conviction seizures. The bill has the backing of many of the most vocal advocates for criminal justice reform, a seemingly unlikely band of liberal groups such as the American Friends Service Committee and conservative organizations like Right on Crime. But it's also found an unexpected support group: Backers of Paul Petersen, the former Maricopa County Assessor and attorney who faces dozens of felony charges across three states related to an alleged international adoption scam.
Rocky Petersen filed for divorce from Paul Petersen in December, claiming her husband secretly used their joint money "for his own personal benefit," according to court documents. The divorce was finalized in February. She told lawmakers that the forfeiture has left her unable to access her property, even though she's not the one facing charges. "It has affected me and my children and I don't have the ability to be proven not guilty. I haven't been charged with anything," she said.
Read the entire article here at: azcentral.com
(5/18/20 -- The Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
Ga. revenue agency gives state $2.1M in disputed forfeiture funds
Following an investigation by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Channel 2 Action News, the Department of Revenue has ended the questionable practice of keeping cash and assets seized in criminal investigations and returned $2.1 million to the state treasury. The news organizations reported in March that the department’s Office of Special Investigations spent millions of dollars seized in criminal investigations on engraved firearms, pricey gym equipment, clothing, personal items, even $130 sunglasses. By its own accounting, the office spent $2.9 million of this money over the past four years.
One day after the AJC and Channel 2 reported its findings, the agency quietly returned $2,165,796 to the state treasury, a fact revenue officials only revealed recently when questioned by the AJC and Channel 2. The payment drains nearly all of the fortune amassed by the department since 2016. All that remains in the account is $5,005 and that will be sent to the treasury in the coming months, department spokeswoman Jessica Simmons said.
Read the entire article here at: ajc.com
(5/18/20 -- Reason)
10 Ways a Roadside Police Stop Can Go Wrong
"These days," Charles Glover's lawyers noted in a Supreme Court brief last year, "traffic safety is so pervasively regulated that it is difficult to drive on a regular basis without violating some law. When an officer observes an infraction—any infraction—he can initiate a traffic stop." Glover was challenging the police practice of automatically stopping cars that are registered to drivers whose licenses have been suspended. While the assumption that the registered owner is behind the wheel might seem reasonable, it could prove to be wrong in the vast majority of cases, since those cars can be legally driven by relatives, friends, and neighbors. Condoning such traffic stops, as Kansas urged the justices to do in a case they heard last November, therefore would expose many drivers to the constant threat of police harassment even when they're doing nothing illegal.
The Court sided with Kansas in April, giving police one more excuse to stop drivers. But it's not as if they really needed one. State transportation codes include hundreds of rules governing the operation and maintenance of motor vehicles. Many of them are picayune (e.g., specifying acceptable tire wear, restricting window tints, and dictating the distance from an intersection at which a driver must signal a turn) or open to interpretation (e.g., mandating a "safe distance" between cars, requiring that cars be driven in a "reasonable and prudent" manner, and banning any windshield crack that "substantially obstructs the driver's clear view"). In the 1996 case Whren v. United States, the Supreme Court said such stops are consistent with the Fourth Amendment's ban on unreasonable searches and seizures even when the traffic violation is merely a pretext for investigating other matters. If an officer stops a car for a traffic violation in the hope of finding illegal drugs or seizable cash, for instance, that is perfectly constitutional, even without any evidence of criminal conduct. Thanks to Whren and other rulings, Harris concluded, "the Court has conferred upon the police nearly complete control over almost every car on the road and the people in it."
Read the entire article here at: reason.com
(5/16/20 -- Salt Lake tribune)
Profit-minded police exploit K-9 partners
Tank the police dog is a good boy caught in a bad situation. But don’t blame him. When a federal court criticized the reliability of every drug K-9 in Utah on April 21, the rebuke had more to do with human behavior than anything else. People can’t sniff out trace amounts of narcotics, but the humans in charge of law enforcement speak on behalf of the dogs who do. And sometimes, often unintentionally, the people who control training, certification and fieldwork cue behavior from their K-9 partners to get desired results.
Tank knows nothing about the stimulus and response. He’s just a pleaser who shows up eager for work at the West Valley City Police Department. He can read body language, but not the court order throwing out evidence from a traffic stop one year earlier. On the day in question, officers pulled over an ex-convict on suspicion of speeding and asked for permission to search his vehicle. The man declined, which meant police needed probable cause as required by the Fourth Amendment to proceed. Tank specializes in such matters. Some officers jokingly refer to their K-9 partners as “probable cause on four legs.” Others describe police dogs as blank permission slips because courts rarely question K-9 reliability. Knowing this, Tank’s handler rushed him to the scene and led him around the vehicle multiple times.
Read the entire article here at: sltrib.com
(5/10/20 -- USA Today)
Can I Lose My Assets While Under Investigation for a White-Collar Crime?
When someone is being investigated for a white-collar crime, there is almost always substantial evidence that exists against them. It’s this mound of evidence that provokes a deeper investigation in the first place. Because white collar crimes are financially motivated, criminal investigators are going to look closely at the finances and assets of the accused, often going forward with the perception of guilt. It’s not uncommon for assets to be seized, or forfeited, in a white-collar investigation, but what does this really mean?
In a nutshell, asset forfeiture is the freezing of assets by officials, so that they cannot be accessed or used in any capacity by the accused. Asset forfeiture usually occurs during the investigation process, especially when a financially motivated crime is involved, as the assets may have been acquired through illegal means. The Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI), as well as other law enforcement agencies, can leverage asset forfeiture as a means of limiting the ability of the person under investigation to commit further unlawful acts, hide their criminal activity, or potentially flee the area. Asset forfeiture can essentially cripple a person who is under investigation for a white-collar crime, at least financially speaking – regardless of whether it can be proven their assets were obtained illegally.
If you’re under investigation for a white-collar crime or even suspect that an investigation is coming your way, it’s important that you reach out to a white collar crime attorney--like those here on the FEAR website-- to discuss the options in your case. If you want to protect your assets from forfeiture, the best approach is a proactive one. An experienced defense attorney can examine the evidence against you and offer counsel on how to best protect yourself during an investigation. Don’t take chances when it comes to protecting your financial future.
Read the entire article here at: usatoday.com
(5/6/20 --WIBW News)
Civil Asset Forfeiture Adds Over $3.35 Million to Kansas Law Enforcement Coffers
Some of the first findings are in from a Kansas law that took effect July 1st of last year, requiring that law enforcement agencies report to the Kansas Bureau of Investigation all seizures of property and cash. The 2019 Civil Asset Forfeiture Report covers the period between July 1 and December 31 of last year. Kansas law enforcement agencies seized more than $3.35 million in property during the six-month period. The seizures included more than $2.7 million in currency and more than $590,000 in property. The Kansas Highway Patrol seized by far the most property, taking in $1.24 million.
Read the entire article here at: wibwnewsnow.com
(5/2/20 -- Wall Street Journal)
U.S. Charges Two Iranians Over Oil Tanker Purchase, Seeking $12 Million Forfeiture
The U.S. on Friday charged two Iranians with violating U.S. sanctions on Iran by orchestrating a scheme to buy a petroleum tanker later used to illicitly transport oil in coordination with the country’s state-owned oil company. Amir Dianat and Kamran Lajmiri used front companies to launder money into the U.S. for the purchase of the tanker, called the Nautic, in a plot involving several sanctioned Iranian entities, among them, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Qods Force and the National Iranian Oil Company, federal prosecutors said.
Prosecutors also filed a civil forfeiture complaint in an attempt to reclaim $12.3 million used to purchase the tanker.
Read the entire article here at: wsj.com
(5/27/20 -- Institute For Justice)
Indiana Returns Vehicle in Landmark Civil Forfeiture Case, But Government Continues its Appeal
For Tyson Timbs, the wheels of justice are still turning. Nearly seven years to the day after Indiana law enforcement seized his vehicle—and over a year after a landmark ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court—the Marion, Indiana man returned home yesterday to find his car in his driveway. Last month, the trial court in Grant County ruled that forfeiting Tyson’s vehicle would violate the 8th Amendment’s Excessive Fines Clause. The Indiana Attorney General has appealed, placing Tyson’s case before the Indiana Supreme Court for a third time. While that latest appeal proceeds, however, the vehicle is back with its rightful owner.
“For years, this case has been important not just for me, but for thousands of people who are caught up in forfeiture lawsuits,” said Tyson. “To me, the State’s refusal to give back my car has never made sense; if they’re trying to rehabilitate me and help me help myself, why do you want to make things harder by taking away the vehicle I need to meet with my parole officer or go to a drug recovery program or go to work? Forfeiture only makes it more challenging for people in my position to clean up and be contributing members of society.”
Read the entire article here at: ij.org
(5/27/20 -- Reason)
Indiana Returns Land Rover Seized in Landmark Asset Forfeiture Case—But Continues the Legal Battle Over its Ultimate Fate
After a seven-year legal battle that resulted in a decision by the US Supreme Court and two (so far) by the Indiana State Supreme Court, the state of Indiana has finally returned a $40,000 land rover owned by Tyson Timbs, which had been seized through the asset forfeiture process. Reason's C.J. Ciaramella summarizes: It's been almost seven years to the day since the state of Indiana seized resident Tyson Timbs' Land Rover for a drug crime, launching a legal odyssey that would take Timbs all the way to the Supreme Court and lead to a landmark ruling on civil asset forfeiture. On Tuesday, Timbs arrived home to find that same Land Rover back in his driveway.
Although the Indiana Attorney General is still appealing Timbs' case at the Indiana Supreme Court—the third time the court has been asked to consider the tangled case of Timbs' SUV—his car has been returned for the moment, according to the Institute for Justice, a libertarian-leaning public interest law firm that represents Timbs and has challenged forfeiture laws in several states…. Last February, the Supreme Court unanimously ruled that the Eighth Amendment and its protections against excessive fines and fees applied to states…. The Supreme Court, however, did not rule on what constituted an "excessive" fine. It kicked that question back to the Indiana Supreme Court, which created a three-prong test last October to determine when a government fine or seizure is disproportionate to the alleged offense. The Indiana Supreme Court in turn sent Timbs' case back to a state trial court to be reconsidered.
Read the entire article here at: reason.com
(4/28/20 -- Chronicle Tribune)
Judge orders state to return Tyson Timbs' Land Rover, calling the forfeiture grossly disproportionate to the crime committed
After more than six years of court hearings, Tyson Timbs will be reunited with his vehicle unless an appeal is filed. Grant County Superior Court 1 Judge Jeffrey D. Todd ruled Monday that Timbs’ 2013 Land Rover LR2 shall be returned to him immediately.
Since his arrest, Timbs and his attorneys have continuously argued that the seizure of his nearly $42,000 vehicle was excessive compared to the maximum fine for his convictions, which was $10,000, according to previous Chronicle-Tribune reports. His attorneys have routinely cited the Excessive Fines Clause in the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution, which states that “excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishment inflicted.” Timbs’ case went before the United States Supreme Court in 2018 to determine whether or not that clause could be applied to the states. The Supreme Court ruled that the clause applies to states and sent the case back to lower-level courts to determine if Timbs’ Land Rover forfeiture could be considered an “grossly excessive fine.”
Read the entire article here at: chronicle-tribune.com
(4/27/20 -- Miami Herald)
Miami feds seize $450 million — cash, condos, horses — in Venezuelan corruption cases
Since targeting Venezuelan corruption in 2017, South Florida federal authorities have seized $450 million in bank accounts — luxury properties, show horses, high-end watches and a super-yacht — that belonged to more than a dozen government officials and business people in Venezuela, all charged with laundering billions of dollars into the United States, Switzerland and other countries. The biggest catch of them all: Alejandro Andrade, Venezuela’s former national treasurer. He wrote several checks totaling $250 million to the U.S. government last fall, after the money had been transferred from his Swiss bank account to his defense attorneys in Miami. That payment was counted towards a $1 billion forfeiture judgment against him, federal authorities told the Miami Herald.
Read the entire article here at: miamiherald.com
(4/24/20 -- WBSM)
New Bedford Cops Seize $47K Cash in Drug Raid
The New Bedford Police Department Narcotics Division on Tuesday seized more than $47,000 in cash in a drug raid that allegedly netted around 40 grams of fentanyl. Jeremy Costa, 29, was reportedly the target of the April 21 search at 14 Shirley St., Apt. C1. The search uncovered digital scales, packaging materials and other drug-related paraphernalia, the department said in a release. Also charged with trafficking was Lizbeth Caraballo, 32, of the same address.
Costa was charged with drug trafficking and possession, a second offense, the release said. Caraballo was charged with trafficking, according to police. The department provided no information on any arraignment or bail conditions for the two. Forty grams equals about 1.4 ounces. A Massachusetts law provides for the civil forfeiture of money and other property involved in violation of the state's Controlled Substances Act.
(4/17/20 -- WIBW)
KBI releases asset seizure report
The Kansas Bureau of Investigation released their first annual seizure report under a new law. According to the report, the Kansas law enforcement seized $3.35 million dollars of property from July 1 to December 31 2019. They also acquired $2.05 million in forfeited property. All Kansas law enforcement agencies must report the assets they acquired after state legislature passed amended a 1994 Asset Seizure act last year.
(4/14/20 -- The Detroit News)
2nd Macomb assistant prosecutor removed from duty
A second assistant Macomb County prosecutor has been moved out of office in the wake of the resignation of elected Prosecutor Eric Smith, who faces multiple criminal charges alleging misuse of $600,000 in forfeiture funds. James Langtry, a part-time assistant prosecutor who worked for Smith as a chief assistant and former chief of operations, was terminated this week, according to Macomb County officials. Langtry is not charged with any offenses in the ongoing probe of alleged misspending of forfeiture funds.
Langtry is the second assistant prosecutor to be broomed from the office by acting Prosecutor Jean Cloud, who took over the office on an interim basis last month when Smith suddenly resigned March 30. The first to go was Derek Miller, Smith’s chief of operations, who is named as a co-defendant in the alleged embezzlement conspiracy. Miller has been placed on a paid administrative leave by Cloud pending the outcome of the probe. Cloud did not return telephone calls for comment Tuesday. Also facing charges are another former assistant prosecutor, Benjamin Liston, who had previously been Smith’s chief of staff, and William Weber, a Mt. Clemens businessman whose Weber Security Co. obtained lucrative contracts for sales and installation of electronic technology used in Smith’s office and home.
Read the entire article here at: detroitnews.com
(4/14/20 -- Star Tribune)
DEA: Mountain West fast food restaurants forfeit another $900k in money laundering case
Restaurateurs on Tuesday walked away from more than $900,000 that federal law enforcement had alleged was part of a drug money laundering scheme linking Wyoming and Colorado fast-food restaurants to Mexican drug cartels. The news came via a federal court filing in which lawyers for Monica’s Taco Shop in Colorado Springs — as well as four people associated with the restaurant — announced they would withdraw their claim to two safe deposit boxes and a bank account. Court documents filed in the case indicate that the safe deposit boxes held $805,000 cash and the bank account was worth another $101,000.
One of the safe-deposit boxes was entirely full with cash in held grocery bags when federal agents seized it in June 2018, according to the documents. Records kept of access to the safe deposit box indicated that all of the 16 times Monica Rodriguez-Lopez accessed the box over the course of nine years she appeared to be pregnant, which prosecutors insinuated was actually the outline of a false belly filled with cash. Both safe deposit boxes were — according to the prosecutors’ filing — registered in the name of Rodriguez-Lopez. One was also registered in Adriana Rodriguez’s name.
Read the entire article here at: trib.com
(4/6/20 -- Miami Herald)
Supreme Court rejects Miami mom’s bid to recover cash for daughter’s ‘quince’ seized by feds
A Miami-area mother who saved $15,000 for her daughter’s “quince” birthday party but had it wrongfully seized by federal agents won’t get the chance to recover some of that money in court. On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected hearing a petition by Miladis Salgado, 57, who works at a duty-free shop at Miami International Airport.
Salgado and her appellate attorneys with the Institute for Justice asked the U.S. Supreme Court to consider making her whole for the misguided May 11, 2015, raid on her home, arguing that a forfeiture law allows victims of wrongful money seizures to recover attorney’s fees in addition to their actual losses from the government. The outcome of her petition, which the high court chose not to hear, had ramifications for thousands of people nationwide whose money is seized by federal agencies without criminal charges ever being filed against them. The Arlington, Va.-based Institute for Justice, with offices in Miami, called the Supreme Court’s decision “unfortunate.”
Read the entire article here at: miamiherald.com
(4/3/20 -- Forbes)
Michigan Prosecutor Arrested For Using Confiscated Money As His Own Personal Slush Fund
For years Macomb County prosecutor Eric Smith used money taken by law enforcement as his personal slush fund. According to an indictment recently revealed by the Michigan Attorney General, Smith, with the help of a former county treasurer and his office’s chief of operations, secreted away funds in accounts outside of normal controls. They then used the money to buy flowers and makeup for secretaries, a security system for Smith’s private residence, catering for parties, campaign expenditures, and more. Smith is charged with five counts of embezzlement and five other counts related to the scheme. The charges could result in decades in prison for a man who spent his career putting others behind bars.
A countywide audit in 2016 first uncovered the illicit accounts. Smith spent years trying to cover up the alleged crimes, initially refusing to hand control over to the county. Then, facing likely prosecution, Smith closed the accounts and handed a check over to the county without producing statements, hoping to cover up his spending habits. However, a police investigation revealed the apparent depth and breadth of Smith’s corruption. It appears that Smith broke a host of Michigan and federal laws, but the fact that the misspent funds came from forfeitures is an important detail. Rather than depositing the money and resources they collect in a neutral account controlled by elected officials who are accountable for how that money is spent, prosecutors often have extraordinary control over the money their offices bring in through criminal and civil forfeiture. In fact, there are numerous examples of outrageous spending by prosecutors and police that were completely legal.
Read the entire article here at: forbes.com
(4/1/20 -- Washington Post)
A second pandemic: Virus opportunism
America’s encounter with covid-19 is causing people already enthusiastic about enlarging government to strenuously affirm the self-evident: the fact that government can perform indispensable functions. And a new pandemic — virus opportunism — is intensifying calls by perennial advocates of substantially enlarged government for just that. Government, they say, should be understood sentimentally as (in words ascribed to former Massachusetts congressman Barney Frank) “simply the name we give to the things we choose to do together.” So it is serendipitous that on Friday the Supreme Court will consider whether to take the case brought by Miladis Salgado. Her 2015 encounter with “the things we choose to do together” left her unenchanted by the romance of government.
Salgado had two jobs, one at a Subway sandwich shop, another at an airport duty-free store where she underwent periodic background checks to guarantee that she had no criminal record. Almost five years ago (May 2015), Drug Enforcement Administration agents acted on a tip that her estranged husband, who was sharing a house with her, was a drug dealer. They raided her home while she was at work. When she returned to a household in shambles, she found that the agents had confiscated her life savings — $15,000 in cash, mostly gifts from family members, that Salgado hoped to spend on her daughter’s 15th-birthday quinceañera celebration.
Because a district court dismissed the DEA’s case involving Salgado “without prejudice,” only $10,387.92 was restored to her. The rest of her $15,000 was withheld for her lawyer, who worked on a contingency fee basis. The intent of the 2000 law, however, was for the government, having lost, to pay its victims’ costs. Salgado wants the court to rule that she substantially prevailed. The government’s last-minute capitulation gained it nothing but the pleasure of injuring her financially. This is one of “the things we choose to do together.”
Read the entire article here at: washingtonpost.com
(3/30/20 -- WXYZ)
Macomb County Prosecutor Eric Smith resigning amid charges in forfeiture fund scandal
Macomb County Prosecutor Eric Smith is resigning from office, 7 Action News has learned. Last week, he was charged by the Michigan Attorney General with ten felonies, including running a criminal enterprise, embezzlement and tampering with evidence. Smith stood mute and a not guilty plea entered on his behalf. He had also said he would run for re-election this year. In a letter, Smith wrote:
"There have been several allegations leveled against me by the Michigan Department of Attorney General in the past few days. I intend to whole-heartedly defend myself against those allegations. I have been part of the criminal justice system for close to thirty years. Know that I have absolute confidence that our cherished justice system will bring forth the truth and exonerate me."
His resignation means a new prosecutor would be appointed by a Macomb County panel of elected officials to finish the year of the term. Smith was first elected in 2004. He and three others are charged with misusing $600,000 in forfeiture funds controlled by Smith over several years. He is out on a $100,000 personal bond. Smith has repeatedly said he has spent the money appropriately.
Read the entire article here at: wxyz.com
(3/25/20 -- ClickOnDetroit)
Macomb County Prosecutor Eric Smith faces corruption charges after forfeiture funds probe
Last year, Michigan State Police raided Smith’s office and then his home in Macomb Township, hoping to learn more about his handling of forfeiture funds. The money in those forfeiture funds is supposed to be used for specific police and law enforcement activities. Smith’s use of the funds was at the center of the investigation, officials said. Smith now faces 10 felony charges including:
- 1 count official misconduct in office – a five-year felony;
- 1 count tampering with evidence in a civil proceeding – a four-year felony;
- 1 count accessory after the fact to Liston’s embezzlement by a public official – a five-year felony;
- 1 count conducting a criminal enterprise – a 20-year felony;
- 5 counts embezzlement by a public official – a 10-year felony – one count each for years 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018; and
- 1 count of conspiracy to commit forgery – a 14-year felony and a $10,000 additional fine.
Nessel said an arrest warrant has been requested for Smith. Local 4 and ClickOnDetroit learned Smith is expected to turn himself in to authorities this week. According to a spreadsheet from the Macomb County Finance Department that covers how the money was spent from 2014 to 2018, Smith spent a considerable amount of money on local police departments and the sheriff’s department, but there were other purchases made that weren’t obvious police activities. Investigators estimate the total amount of money embezzled related to these crimes since 2012 to be about $600,000.
Nessel announced later Tuesday that three other people face charges in connection to this investigation: Benjamin Liston, retired Macomb County assistant prosecutor and former chief of operations, Derek Miller, the county’s current assistant prosecutor and chief of operations, and businessman William Weber. Arrest warrants have been requested for them, too, Nessel announced.
Read the entire article here at: clickondetroit.com
(3/23/20 -- ClickOnDetroit)
Macomb County Prosecutor Eric Smith expected to turn self in as part of forfeiture funds probe
Macomb County Prosecutor Eric Smith is expected to turn himself into authorities Tuesday as part of an investigation into the Macomb County Prosecutor’s Forfeiture Fund, Local 4 and ClickOnDetroit have learned. Last year, Michigan State Police raided Smith’s office and then his home in Macomb Township, hoping to learn more about his handling of forfeiture funds. The money in those forfeiture funds is supposed to be used for specific police and law enforcement activities. Smith’s use of the funds is at the center of the investigation, officials said. "This morning, as you know, members of the Michigan State Police appeared at my home as part of their investigation into the Macomb County Prosecutor’s Forfeiture Fund,” Smith said in a statement after his home was raided. “My family and I complied with their requests and cooperated fully, as I have promised to do from the beginning of this process. I will continue to cooperate fully and supply the State Police with any information they need to conclude their investigation."
We expect to learn more this week. Meanwhile, Smith said he is not turning himself in. Here is a statement from him on Monday: “I have fully cooperated with the State Police Investigation from the day it began. I will continue to do so. Furthermore, I stand by my previous statements that these forfeiture funds were spent appropriately in accordance with the law. During these extremely trying times of the COVID-19 crisis the focus of our office continues to be the health and safety of our staff, partners in law enforcement and victims. We are continuing to ensure that the wheels of justice do not stop and those that commit crimes are held accountable.”
According to a spreadsheet from the Macomb County Finance Department that covers how the money was spent from 2014 to 2018, Smith spent a considerable amount of money on local police departments and the sheriff’s department, but there were other purchases made that weren’t obvious police activities. Nearly $2,000 was spent on two refrigerators and equipment, while nearly $20,000 worth of checks were written to AT&T and another $8,000 went to DIRECTV. More than $10,000 worth of checks were also written to Culligan and Purified Water to Go. More than $7,000 was also spent on retirement and Christmas parties at Fern Hill Country Club. The spreadsheet shows that $83,514 was spent with American Express. Many of those charges were made with Smith's secretary's Amex card.
Read the entire article here at: clickondetroit.com
(3/13/20 -- Reason)
After a State-Authorized Medical Marijuana Patient Had an Epileptic Seizure and Crashed Her Car, Police Arrested Her for Driving With 'Marjuana in Her System'
Beth Repp, a registered medical marijuana patient in Pennsylvania, crashed her car in Pittsburgh last September after suffering an epileptic seizure. Adding insult to injury, police arrested Repp and charged her with driving under the influence because "blood tests showed marijuana in her system." Now Repp is challenging Pennsylvania's unjust and unscientific definition of stoned driving, which effectively criminalizes driving by anyone who uses medical marijuana in compliance with state law. Under Pennsylvania's DUI law, a defendant is automatically guilty of driving under the influence—a misdemeanor punishable by a 12-month license suspension, a maximum fine of $5,000, and up to six months in jail—if he operates a motor vehicle with "any amount" of a Schedule I substance or a "metabolite" of that substance in his blood. That definition is irrational on its face, since THC can be detected in blood long after its psychoactive effects have worn off and metabolites have no impact on driving ability. The eminent forensic pathologist Cyril Wecht, who has joined Repp's defense team, is expected to make those points when he testifies as an expert witness.
According to Repp's lawyer, Patrick Nightingale, she consumed marijuana "many hours" before her accident. Her THC blood concentration was 8.1 nanograms per milliliter, which is not unusual for a medical marijuana user and does not necessarily indicate impairment. THC blood levels are not a reliable indicator of impairment in general, and that is especially true when "any amount" of THC or even its inactive metabolites is sufficient for a DUI conviction. THC can be detected in the blood of daily cannabis consumers for up to a month after last use. Under Pennsylvania's "zero tolerance" standard, any patient who regularly uses marijuana for symptom relief will always be breaking the law when he drives. "We have over 200,000 patients registered in Pennsylvania right now," Nightingale told WPXI, the NBC affiliate in Pittsburgh, "and every single one of us is DUI 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year if we're using medical cannabis under Pennsylvania law."
Read the entire article here at: reason.com
(3/12/20 -- Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
‘Like a slush fund’: Revenue agents bought pricey perks with seized assets
Pricey gym equipment, commemorative Super Bowl badges, golf carts, $130 sunglasses — even stress balls shaped like beer mugs and wine bottles. For years, a state revenue division has used millions of dollars from assets seized in criminal investigations to buy trinkets, travel, engraved firearms, tactical gear, a fleet of cars and personal items, an investigation by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Channel 2 Action News has found. The Office of Special Investigations at the Georgia Department of Revenue padded its budget rather than returning the money to the state treasury, the investigation found.
All of the spending came under the leadership of Joshua Waites, a former Clayton County Sheriff’s deputy. Last week, Waites announced his resignation amid accusations that he falsified his resume, claiming a degree he never earned. But the department fired him March 11, two days before he was set to leave, after the AJC and Channel 2 asked questions about his spending. Waites and his staff tore through forfeited cash under Waites’s leadership. By its own accounting, the Department of Revenue spent $2.9 million over the last four years leading up to his abrupt resignation, and is sitting on another $2.5 million in unspent funds.
“It’s unjustifiable,” said Rep. Scot Turner, R-Holly Springs, a legislative critic of civil asset forfeiture. “Trinkets? Souvenirs? For what purpose? It doesn’t help fight crime. It doesn’t help anyone get better at their job. It’s a trophy.” The AJC and others have repeatedly highlighted how local and state agencies have abused forfeiture money, and the Legislature has made efforts to tighten the laws. The millions uncovered in the latest AJC/Channel 2 investigation come as Gov. Brian Kemp has asked state agencies to trim staff and freeze or cut budgets.
Read the entire article here at: ajc.com
(3/10/20 -- Miami Herald)
Feds grab $15,000 from Miami mom’s ‘quince’ savings for daughter. Now she’s fighting back.
Miladis Salgado worked in the duty-free shop at Miami International Airport, squirreling away thousands of dollars in savings along with gifts from relatives to throw a “quince” party for her only daughter, who was turning 15. She wanted the coming of age event to be a grand affair — at a banquet hall, with a DJ and a photographer. “It’s a lot of money for a party,” Salgado said. But on a spring day five years ago, federal agents raided Salgado’s suburban Miami home on a tip that that her husband was suspected of dealing cocaine and seized $15,000 in cash from her bedroom closet that she had planned to use for her daughter’s quinceañera party. Agents with the Drug Enforcement Administration kept her and her daughter outside for five hours in the hot Miami sun.
It would take two years for Salgado to recover her money from the DEA, which did not arrest her husband because agents discovered he had not been selling drugs after all. The lead DEA agent admitted in a court deposition that there was no evidence supporting the allegation. However, there was a catch: Before a critical ruling in the civil forfeiture dispute with Salgado, Justice Department lawyers on their own decided to return her money. But at the same time, they argued that Salgado had not really won because a judge granted the feds the right to refile their civil case in the future — even though they probably had no intention of doing so. As a result, the government argued it did not have to pay her attorney’s fees, which she said amounted to $5,000.
Now, Salgado is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to make her whole for the misguided May 11, 2015, raid on her home, arguing that a forfeiture law allows victims of wrongful money seizures to recover attorney’s fees in addition to their actual losses from the government. The outcome of a petition brought by the 57-year-old naturalized U.S. citizen from Colombia could affect thousands of people nationwide whose money is seized by federal agencies without criminal charges ever being filed against them. “This is a game that the Justice Department plays — it’s a war of attrition,” said lawyer Justin Pearson with the Arlington, Va.-based Institute for Justice, which is representing Salgado free of charge. “This is a cash grab by the government to take money away from people who don’t have the ability to fight back.”
Read the entire article here at: miamiherald.com
(3/9/20 -- WFPL)
A Prosecutor’s Offer: Give Up Cash And Family Won’t Go To Jail
Patrick Card was facing three felony drug trafficking charges and the prosecutors had prepared a deal that would spare him of jail time — he’d just have to surrender $380,000 in cash police seized three months earlier. That the money seized through asset forfeiture figured into the deal is not unusual. A KyCIR investigation last year found money was often a bargaining chip to entice defendants to take plea deals and quickly resolve their case, oftentimes for lesser crimes and without jail time. But in this case, the cash was being leveraged in another way. The day before the deal was offered, prosecutors also indicted Card’s wife, mother and father.
If Card gave up the cash, the written plea offer said, the Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office would drop their charges, too. Attorney Ted Shouse said this case is unlike any he’s experienced. He represents Card’s wife, Hallie Card, and said it’s unusual for his clients’ cases to ride on someone else’s plea before they even appear in court to face the charges. Steve Romines, Patrick Card’s attorney, said this case is all about the cash. “The textbook definition of extortion is threatening to charge someone with a crime unless they pay you money,” Romines said. “That’s, basically, what it is.”
Read the entire article here at: wfpl.org
(3/7/20 -- Eurasia Review)
Joe Biden: Father Of The Drug War’s Asset Forfeiture Program
Biden, a young Senator from Delaware, had to do something to show that despite his “liberal” reputation, he could be just as tough on crime as his Republican colleagues. He took notice of the RICO Act, and he realized that law enforcement agencies were not taking advantage of it, particularly in waging the drug war. He turned to the General Accounting Office and asked them to produce a study on the potential uses of RICO for drug enforcement. The report showed that the RICO Act granted enormous powers to police to confiscate drug-related assets but that these powers were not being taken advantage of: “The government has simply not exercised the kind of leadership and management necessary to make asset forfeiture a widely used law enforcement technique,” the report stated. By the time the report came in, Ronald Reagan was settling into office and getting ready to renew the war on drugs.
Biden brought the RICO law to the attention of the federal government, Reagan enlisted the FBI to use it against drug traffickers, and both parties would now work to dismantle any limitations that the law might still impose. The drug war became a contest of political one-upmanship. Reagan’s Justice Department fought for all kinds of new powers. Attorney General Edwin Meese and Assistant Attorney General William Weld (yes, that Bill Weld) railed against the limitations on their legal prerogative. Weld went so far as to argue in favor of the legality of using the Air Force to shoot suspected drug-smuggling planes out of the sky, a policy that even his boss was unwilling to endorse.
But Meese, Weld, and everyone else seemed to agree that forfeiture laws didn’t go nearly far enough. By requiring an indictment, the government still had to meet some standard of reasonable guilt before seizing property, which allowed far too many criminals that law enforcement knew to be guilty (but couldn’t build a case against) to keep their ill-gotten gains. To take things further, the Justice Department argued that law enforcement should be allowed to take “substitute” property: they knew that they wouldn’t be able to take everything that had been paid for with drug money, so it stood to reason that they should be able to take legally acquired assets of equal value (however that might be determined). And finally, with real estate off limits, the government was unable to seize marijuana farms, drug warehouses, and criminal homes. The Comprehensive Forfeiture Act fixed all of these problems. Biden introduced the new bill in 1983, and its provisions became law the next year. Under this law federal agents had nearly unlimited powers to seize assets from private citizens. Now the government only needed to find a way to let local and state police join the party. Biden’s bill was passed as part of the 1984 Comprehensive Crime Control Act . In addition to a slew of new powers for prosecutors, the burden of proof for asset seizure was lowered once again (agents had to onlybelievethat what they were seizing was equal in value to money believed to have been purchased from drug sales). More significantly, the bill started the “equitable sharing” program that allowed local and state law enforcement to retain up to 80 percent of the spoils.
Read the entire article here at: eurasiareview.com
(3/4/20 -- Reason)
DEA Will Return $82K Life Savings It Seized From an Elderly Pittsburgh Man and His Daughter
The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) will return more than $82,000 that it seized from an elderly Pittsburgh man and his daughter after a federal class-action lawsuit was filed on their behalf last month. The Institute for Justice, the libertarian-leaning public interest law firm that filed the lawsuit, announced today that the DEA will return $82,373 that it seized from Rebecca Brown six months ago at a Pittsburgh airport. The money was the life savings of her father, Terry Rolin, a 79-year-old retired railroad engineer. She says she intended to deposit the money in a bank but ran out of time before her flight. According to Brown, a DEA agent met her at her gate and grilled her about the money. Brown told The Washington Post that the agent demanded she put her confused father on the phone, and, when their stories didn't exactly match, the agent seized the cash.
"I'm grateful that my father's life savings will soon be returned, but the money never should have been taken in the first place. I can't believe they're not even offering an apology for the stress and pain they caused for my family," Brown said in a press release today. "Without this money, my father was forced to put off necessary dental work—causing him serious pain for several months—and could not make critical repairs to his truck."
Although it is legal to fly domestically with large amounts of undeclared cash, the Institute for Justice lawsuit claims the DEA has a practice or policy of seizing currency from travelers at U.S. airports without probable cause simply if the dollar amount is greater than $5,000. This practice, the suit argues, violates travelers' Fourth Amendment rights. "We are glad that Terry will get his money back, but it is shameful that it takes a lawsuit and an international outcry for the federal government to do the right thing," said Institute for Justice senior attorney Dan Alban. "We know that this routinely happens to other travelers at airports across the United States."
Read the entire article here at: reason.com
(3/3/20 -- The City)
NYPD Stalls on Sharing Property Seizure Stats Required by City Law
The NYPD is supposed to account publicly for seizures of private property, under a 2017 law that requires precinct-by-precinct annual reports about cars, cash and other items that police routinely confiscate from people being arrested. This week, the NYPD blew past a March 1 deadline for the first of its detailed annual reports without producing any information. The department previously missed a July 2019 deadline for an initial report covering the first half of last year.
“Compliance with the law is not a matter of discretion. It’s a matter of obligation,” said Councilmember Ritchie Torres (D-The Bronx), who was the bill’s prime sponsor. “I’m not gonna stand by idly while a city agency willfully fails to follow the law,” he added, vowing the City Council would call a hearing to compel the NYPD to disclose the information. Sgt. Mary O’Donnell, a police spokesperson, said on Monday the data “is not available.” O’Donnell, stating the NYPD is “pretty transparent,” added that police would upload the statistics online when they have them. “I don’t know what’s the delay,” she said.
Read the entire article here at: thecity.nyc
(3/3/20 -- Casper Star Tribune)
Wyoming Supreme Court orders return of half-million dollars seized in I-80 traffic stop
The Wyoming Supreme Court on Tuesday morning ordered state authorities to return to an Illinois man $470,000 that police seized in 2013 on the side of Interstate 80. The seizure was made under civil asset forfeiture law, which allows courts to award to the government money that authorities allege to be the proceeds of crimes. Under the civil forfeiture process — unlike such proceedings undertaken as part of criminal cases — prosecutors are not required to convict a person of a crime in order to be awarded the money. Instead, the lower standards of proof required in civil proceedings apply.
The state’s highest court ruled on Tuesday, however, that when the attorney general’s office waited nine months from the date of the traffic stop and before filing the civil case, it violated Robert Miller’s right to due process under the U.S. Constitution. Miller was never charged with a crime in connection with the traffic stop.
The case dates to November 2013, when a Wyoming Highway Patrol trooper stopped Miller on suspicion of speeding on Interstate 80. Miller told the trooper that he was driving a rental car from Reno, Nevada, to his Illinois home. The trooper noticed Miller’s rental agreement was made in California and asked permission to continue questioning Miller after the traffic stop. He agreed and then gave the trooper permission to search his car. In the trunk of the car, hidden underneath the carpet, the highway patrolman found a manila envelope full of cash. The patrolman read Miller his rights, Miller asked for a lawyer and the trooper finished searching the car, where he found a total of $470,000 in similar envelopes. The trooper found that law enforcement records tied Miller to a drug case from California. That case, involving the hallucinogen LSD, was later revealed to be eight years old.
Read the entire article here at: trib.com
(3/2/20 -- Rapid City Journal)
Feds appeal after two judges rule drug seizure was unconstitutional
Federal prosecutors in Rapid City are appealing the findings of two judges who said Pennington County sheriff deputies unconstitutionally seized drug vials allegedly stolen by a former paramedic. "Deputy (Eric) Fenton had a lawful right of access to the vials" at Dane Arredondo's apartment in Rapid Valley, Judge Jeffrey Viken wrote in a Feb. 13 order. "The vials, however, did not have an immediately apparent incriminating character" so the seizure violates the 4th Amendment against unreasonable searches and seizures.
Dane, who previously worked for the Oglala Sioux Tribe's ambulance service, has pleaded not guilty to health care fraud, acquiring controlled substances by fraud, and possessing controlled substances after allegedly stealing fentanyl, ketamine and midazolam from his work in January 2019. The seizure of the vials centers around the "plain view doctrine," Viken and Magistrate Judge Daneta Wollmann wrote.
Read the entire article here at: rapidcityjournal.com
(2/25/20 -- Argus Leader)
Senate committee moves forward bill to move drug money forfeiture to criminal proceedings
A bill that would move money and property seized by law enforcement from civil to criminal proceedings is moving to the Senate floor, but a lot needs to change before it passes, lawmakers said Tuesday. Senate Bill 172 would remove civil forfeiture — the seizure of money or property — unless it were tied to a criminal conviction. The Senate Judiciary committee sent the bill to the Senate floor Tuesday 5-2 with a do-pass recommendation, with the stipulation that more work be done on the bill.
South Dakota has among the worst laws around civil forfeiture, said bill sponsor Sen. Art Rusch, noting a national study from the Institute of Justice that gave the state a D- for its laws. The Institute for Justice listed the state's low bar to forfeit, the lack of a conviction requirement, that all the proceeds go to law enforcement and poor protections for innocent third-party property owners as reasons for the grade.
Read the entire article here at: argusleader.com
(2/25/20 -- News Tribune)
Law enforcement seizures down from 2018
Law enforcement officials in Missouri seized nearly $6 million worth of property in 493 seizures in 2019, according to a report released Monday by State Auditor Nicole Galloway on property seizures made under Missouri’s Criminal Activity Forfeiture Act. That’s down from 2018, when authorities seized approximately $9.1 million worth of property in 699 seizures.
Under the Criminal Activity Forfeiture Act, law enforcement officials may take possession of property or cash believed to be involved in or related to a crime. State law requires prosecuting attorneys and the attorney general to file information about reported seizures each year with the State Auditor’s Office.
Read the entire article here at: newstribune.com
(2/21/20 -- NPR)
Medical Marijuana Bill Passes Kentucky House, Heads To Senate
The Kentucky House of Representatives passed a bill Thursday that would allow doctors to prescribe medical marijuana in limited ways. This is the furthest an effort to legalize any form of marijuana has ever gone. Sixty-five lawmakers voted in favor of the bill, while 30 voted against it. It was the first time a medical marijuana bill passed a chamber of the General Assembly. The House Judiciary Committee passed HB 136 last week, with a vote of 17 to 1. The bill has 51 cosponsors. It will head next to the Senate, which like the House is Republican-led.
Read the entire article here at: wkyufm.org
(2/19/20 -- Reason)
Joe Biden Is Happy To Talk About Michael Bloomberg's Stop-and-Frisk Record Because It Distracts From His Own Terrible Crime Policies
Let's be very clear about one thing: Michael Bloomberg's half-hearted apologies about stop-and-frisk are a bunch of bullshit. "It's not whether he apologies or not, it's the policy," former Vice President Joe Biden said, summing up the common-sense opinion of stop-and-frisk. "The policy was abhorrent."
But let's be clear about something else, too. One of the biggest beneficiaries of Wednesday night's dogpile on Bloomberg is Biden, whose own terrible record on criminal justice issues has suddenly fallen out of the spotlight. Unburdened from the role of apparent front-runner, Biden seems more comfortable on the attack—but his accurate criticism of Bloomberg's awfulness should not be allowed to obscure his own. Need I remind you? Biden was instrumental in passing a 1984 anti-drug law that effectively created the modern civil asset forfeiture system, which law enforcement has regularly abused to seize cash, cars, homes, and other valuables from individuals who are often never charged with a crime.
In 1986, Biden co-sponsored the Anti-Drug Abuse Act—spurred by a moral panic over several high-profile deaths linked to cocaine—that added more mandatory minimum sentences for federal drug crimes, including the provision requiring a five-year prison term for anyone convicted of possessing 5 grams of crack cocaine or 500 grams of powdered cocaine. That massive discrepancy "unjustly and disproportionately" penalized African Americans and poor communities, the American Civil Liberties Union said in a 2006 report on the law. Most famously, Biden championed the 1994 crime bill and its harsh "three-strikes" rule, which imposed life sentences for anyone convicted of a violent felony if they had two prior offenses on their record—including drug crimes.
Read the entire article here at: reason.com
(2/20/20 -- The Indiana Lawyer)
Timbs forfeiture case back in trial court for excessiveness ruling
Little more than a year after the United States Supreme Court handed down a landmark decision incorporating to the states the Eight Amendment protection against excessive fines, the Grant County man who bears the name of the case is headed back to trial. This time, when Marion resident Tyson Timbs appears in Grant Superior Court, he will use the decision in Timbs v. Indiana, 586 U.S. ___ (2019), to support the return of his $42,000 Land Rover. The SUV was seized in 2013 after he was charged with, and eventually convicted on, felony dealing and conspiracy to commit theft charges.
Todd will hold an evidentiary hearing Friday morning, with Timbs represented by attorneys with the Virginia-based Institute for Justice, which also argued on his behalf before the U.S. and Indiana Supreme Courts. The Rover has not been returned to Timbs since its initial 2013 seizure. “Since pleading guilty, Timbs has turned his life around,” IJ said in a news release ahead of the Friday hearing. “He has remained off drugs, he holds a full-time job and he participates in regular counseling, while also counseling others on how to stay clean. All of this effort has proven immeasurably harder with the loss of his vehicle.”
Read the entire article here at: theindianalawyer.com
(2/19/20 -- The City)
Vance Prosecutor Misconduct Accusations Could Cost Millions
Over the last two years, several engineering firms signed deals with Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance Jr. to pay nearly $7 million after their executives were charged in a wide-ranging construction bribery scheme. Now all of those forfeiture agreements are up in the air as Vance examines allegations that the prosecutor leading those cases deliberately withheld evidence favorable to the defendants, THE CITY has learned. The revisiting of the big-money deals marks the latest development in the ongoing prosecutorial misconduct inquiry into outgoing Assistant District Attorney Diana Florence, until recently one of Vance’s top deputies.
Florence resigned last month and was replaced as the head of Vance’s Construction Fraud Task Force after the allegations surfaced. She was the lead prosecutor in the multi-defendant construction bribery case, bringing criminal charges against four firms and their executives, and seeking a nonprosecution deal with a fifth firm. Vance is now reviewing all of the cases — and “the civil [forfeiture] resolutions are part of the pending review,” his spokesperson, Emily Tuttle, confirmed to THE CITY.
All of that forfeiture money ends up with the law enforcement agencies that brought the case, including the Manhattan DA’s Office. Over the last several years, Vance has accumulated tens of millions of dollars in forfeiture funds — far more than any other DA in the city — via settlements with various corporate entities, including several big banks charged with fraud. According to the latest available disclosure forms, Vance reported having $222 million in forfeiture money as of June 30, 2018. He distributed some to other law enforcement agencies, and spent some on training, investigations and pricey travel.
Read the entire article here at: thecity.nyc
(2/19/20 -- Kentucky Center For Investigative Reporting)
Bill To Strengthen Asset Forfeiture Reporting, Penalties Advances In Ky. Legislature
A bill that would penalize law enforcement agencies that fail to report how much cash and property they seize through asset forfeiture is moving through the state legislature. The House Judiciary Committee passed the bill on Wednesday, despite concerns from law enforcement advocates that the legislation would bring undue financial and workload burdens on local agencies.
The bill is sponsored by Rep. Savannah Maddox from Dry Ridge and Rep. Jerry Miller from Louisville, both Republicans. If passed, it would prohibit law enforcement agencies from spending their forfeiture proceeds if they don’t file required annual reports to the state detailing their seizures. The bill also imposes a $500 fine for agencies that fail to report each year. Asset forfeiture is a common practice for police agencies across Kentucky. Under state law, law enforcement agencies keep 85 percent of what they take and the rest is distributed to prosecutors. Since 2013, agencies have collectively seized more than $61 million in cash and thousands of vehicles and guns from residents. But not every agency discloses what they take, even though it’s already required by state law.
Read the entire article here at: kycir.org
(2/19/20 -- Lancaster Online)
Lancaster County District Attorney's Office posts forfeiture records online; here is how to view them
The Lancaster County District Attorney's Office published detailed expenditure records from its drug forfeiture account Tuesday, making it possibly only the second county in the state to do so. The move is a change of course for the office - which had previously claimed that such a release was illegal -- and fulfills a campaign promise made by District Attorney Heather Adams, who was sworn into office in January.
The office posted online a year and a half of expense records, from 2017 to the end of the 2018 fiscal year. They are a portion of the records provided to LNP | LancasterOnline in a case that settled this past fall. "It is a step in the right direction," University of Pennsylvania law professor Louis Rulli, an expert on civil asset forfeiture, said of the public release.
Read the entire article here at: lancasteronline.com
2/18/20 -- Bismarck Tribune)
Speaking out: Asset forfeiture should only follow conviction
If you regularly read my columns, you have probably figured out by now that I am a strong advocate of law and order. That brings me to three items I would like to discuss related to law enforcement that I believe should be changed or abolished. The first is civil asset forfeiture or civil judicial forfeiture, and it is a procedure in which police agencies and the government can legally confiscate property from a person they suspect of criminal or illegal activity without charging them with a crime. This can be in the form of cash, or a house, or a car or a boat, just to name a few. This happens on a daily basis, and the only way to attempt to get your property back is to sue the agency that took your property. The burden of proof is on you to prove that the seized assets were not obtained through illegal means.
It is totally legal for citizens to travel in the contiguous 48 states with cash and there is no limit, but numerous people have had large sums of money taken from them by police agencies simply stating that they felt that the money was a product of a crime.
Read the entire article here at: bismarcktribune.com
(2/17/20 -- Index-Journal)
Court issues $3.3 million forfeiture order in Greenwood-linked drug ring case
A man who went viral for a Girl Scout cookie haul before his arrest as the lead defendant in a Greenwood-linked drug ring has been ordered to forfeit his proceeds from selling narcotics. The amount: $3,264,500. Detric Lee “Fat” McGowan, 47, pleaded guilty in August to conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance, possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance and conspiracy to commit money laundering under a plea agreement that dismisses more than 30 other charges. That agreement also stipulated he couldn’t contest forfeiture.
The 47-year-old also pleaded guilty to attempting to kill a witness and an assistant U.S. attorney after authorities learned he had tried to pay someone $10,000 to perform a hit on the prosecutor and the witness. He will be sentenced at a later date, but faces a prison term of at least 25 years and could receive a life sentence. According to the Feb. 11 preliminary forfeiture order, authorities already have a quantity of money from the former Greenwood man. Agents seized $590,405 in cash from McGowan during the investigation and bank accounts totaling $49,037.24.
Read the entire article here at: indexjournal.com
(2/14/20 -- Tampa Bay Times
Feds seize $181,000 from trucker at Tampa airport. His company says ‘something is fishy.’
A Tampa trucking company employee’s trip to Cleveland to buy several tractor-trailers in September has turned into a legal fight after federal agents at Tampa International Airport seized $181,500 in cash that the man was carrying. Nearly five months later, Tampa-based FGL Transport, Inc. and its owners, Scott Smith and Michael Rozenberg, have filed a federal lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection and officials with each agency because the government won’t return the money.
The saga started when FGL Transport gave employee Boris Nulman $191,500 and a plane ticket to Cleveland to purchase several big rigs. When the cash in a carry-on bag went through a Transportation Security Administration scanner, officers pulled it aside for an inspection. Nulman was allowed to leave later with only $10,000, according to the lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida. He never made it to Cleveland to buy the trucks. Although a federal agent gave Nulman a receipt to document the $181,500, the federal government now says it only confiscated $159,950, according to the filing. “This is legitimate money,” Rozenberg said. “There is nothing dirty about this. We have evidence to show we took this out of our business account. Something is fishy here.”
The company contends it proved the cash was not tied to illegal activities. The lawsuit also contends authorities violated the U.S. Constitution’s Fourth Amendment for warrantless searches and seizures during prolonged detentions. Leslie Sammis, a Tampa attorney representing the three men, was in court Thursday and unavailable for comment. Officials with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Customs and Border Protection also could not be reached for comment.
Read the entire article here at: tampabay.com
(2/14/20 -- Las Vegas Sun)
What happens to drugs, property and other assets seized by law enforcement?
It’s the law enforcement equivalent of a prized taxidermy moose hanging on the wall of a hunter’s den. Police departments tout their seized hauls of drugs, firearms, cash and other assets on social media after a major bust, displaying photos of what they took off the streets and usually delivering a message. While investigators weren’t certain whether the vehicles were involved in violent crimes, asset forfeiture laws allow police to seize any private property they believe was used in a crime, even if the suspect hasn’t been convicted. But what happens to it from there?
Seized evidence is stored by Metro in an 83,000-square-foot evidence vault—which is really more like a warehouse—until a case is adjudicated, Melisse Huffmaster, the department’s evidence vault director, explained. These cases, she said, can sometimes take years to close, which can make the task of storing drug evidence quite difficult. “We often run out of space,” she said. “It’s not an uncommon problem; it’s a nationwide issue.” Huffmaster said the lack of space has pushed agencies to lobby for more policies to get rid of evidence more quickly. Marijuana is the only type of drug evidence that can be destroyed before a case is adjudicated, according to Huffmaster (“That’s because marijuana takes up a lot of storage space”). Prosecutors instead use samples or photos of the evidence in court.
Read the entire article here at: lasvegassun.com
(2/11/20 -- WFPL)
Under Pressure, More Kentucky Agencies Report Asset Forfeiture Seizures
Amid growing scrutiny of Kentucky law enforcement’s use of asset forfeiture, more than twice as many agencies disclosed last year how much cash and property they seized than they did two years prior. More than 280 agencies filed required reports last year for seizures that totaled $11.6 million statewide in fiscal year 2019. That includes every single county sheriff in the state, and at least 44 agencies who disclosed their seizures for the first time in at least six years, according to a KyCIR analysis of state data. By comparison, state data shows 138 agencies reported seizing $5.9 million in 2017.
The surge in reporting comes after a 2018 report from KyCIR that found few agencies complied with a state law that requires agencies to file annual reports with the state’s Justice and Public Safety Cabinet’s Office of Drug Control Policy detailing what they seize. Following that report, legislators demanded more transparency from law enforcement, and both the Kentucky Association of Chiefs of Police and the Kentucky Sheriffs’ Association have launched a concentrated effort to get more agencies in compliance.
Read the entire article here at: wfpl.org
(2/10/20 -- JD Supra)|
Idaho Court Rules Interstate Hemp Shipment Will Remain Forfeited to the State
On January 21, 2020, an Idaho state court held that nearly 7,000 pounds of seized hemp would remain forfeited to the Idaho State Police (“ISP”). As we discussed in our recently published article, the defendant in the case, Big Sky Scientific LLC (“Big Sky”), shipped the several thousand pounds of unprocessed hemp from Oregon to Colorado. During the transport through Idaho, the ISP seized the shipment citing to the state’s law classifying hemp as marijuana, which is illegal in Idaho. Big Sky sued in federal court, arguing that the clear and unambiguous language of the 2018 Farm Bill allowed the transport of hemp through any state or Indian territory. A magistrate judge disagreed and denied Big Sky’s motion for a preliminary injunction. Big Sky then appealed the case the Ninth Circuit, which abstained from judgment to allow the Idaho state court to resolve the case. The Idaho court state held that the hemp seized from Big Sky was not grown pursuant to the 2018 Farm Bill and was therefore not afforded the federal protections for interstate transport provided by the Farm Bill.
Read the entire article here at: jdsupra.com
(2/6/20 -- Fox 2)
Lawsuit challenges Wayne County's controversial vehicle forfeiture law
A new lawsuit targeting Wayne County's controversial vehicle forfeiture law alleges innocent people who have been charged with no crime are having their cars seized by police. In a federal lawsuit challenging what's known as "forfeiture laws," attorney Barton Morris says innocent people are having their cars taken by the cops.
Read the entire article here at: fox2detroit.com
(2/5/20 -- Vice News)
Michigan Cops Seized This Woman’s Car After Her Then-Boyfriend Allegedly Picked Up a Prostitute
Cops in Wayne County, Michigan, have seized Melisa Ingram’s car twice since 2018 and demanded that she pay hundreds of dollars to get it back — even though she was never accused of a crime. On two separate occasions, Ingram’s then-boyfriend borrowed her Ford Fusion and either drove it through an area of the county known for crime or went to a house associated with prostitution. That’s all police needed to stop him, and it’s still not entirely clear whether he purchased any sex acts or interacted with sex workers because he was never charged with a crime.
Both times, police pulled him over and drove off with Ingram’s car. Michigan’s civil forfeiture laws allow cops to seize any items they suspect may have been even remotely associated with a crime, like prostitution. And Ingram was left to pay the price, despite her innocence. The resulting legal headaches upended her life and ultimately, drove her to file for bankruptcy. Now, the 50-year-old Detroiter is fighting to make sure Michigan’s civil forfeiture laws don’t leave anyone else broke. “I was an innocent victim of these two incidents; I didn’t deserve to be treated the way I was treated,” said Ingram, who’s part of a federal class action lawsuit filed Tuesday against Wayne County by the Institute for Justice, a public interest law firm.
Read the entire article here at: vice.com
(1/30/20 -- Forbes)
Retiree Who Had Over $82,000 Seized Sues TSA And DEA For Violating The Fourth Amendment
t’s not a crime to travel with cash. But that hasn’t stopped federal agents from treating innocent Americans like criminals. Now a new class-action lawsuit states that the Transportation Security Administration and Drug Enforcement Administration have routinely violated the Fourth Amendment at U.S. airports by seizing cash without probable cause. Filed earlier this month by the Institute for Justice, the lawsuit was prompted by an outrageous seizure last August at Pittsburgh International Airport. Rebecca Brown was carrying her father’s life savings—more than $82,000 in cash—to fly back home to Boston where she would deposit it in a joint bank account.
Read the entire article here at: forbes.com
(1/30/20 -- Santa Fe New Mexican)
Glorieta man sues Santa Fe over vehicle seizure
A Glorieta man has filed a lawsuit in state District Court accusing the city of Santa Fe of unlawfully seizing and attempting to forfeit his vehicle in 2018. Bernard Lucero’s complaint — which he is seeking to have designated as a class-action suit on behalf of others whose vehicles were seized by the city after February 2018 — accuses the city of creating forfeiture policies designed to bring in money that could be spent on police department operations. “The city erected a web of arbitrary fines and fees” to accomplish this, Lucero says in his complaint, filed Jan. 22.
“The program seized nearly 500 cars a year,” says Lucero’s complaint, which alleges an attorney had bragged at a civil forfeiture conference in 2014 that Santa Fe had “realized a million dollars in revenues from forfeitures, fines, penalties and other things imposed in connection with these cases.” The lawsuit was referring to a conference in Santa Fe in which former Las Cruces city attorney Harry S. Connelly Jr. was captured on video encouraging law enforcement officials and lawyers to think about how forfeiture laws can be exploited. A story about the incident appeared on the front page of the New York Times.
Read the entire article here at: santafenewmexican.com
(1/30/20 -- Greenville News)
Statewide precedent could be set in forfeiture case to be appealed to SC Supreme Court
The solicitor over two South Carolina counties will appeal a circuit court judge’s ruling that the state’s civil asset forfeiture laws violate both the state and U.S. constitutions, setting up a potential challenge to the state’s forfeiture statutes. The case could set precedent for the entire state or force the Legislature to rework the law. Jimmy Richardson, 15th circuit solicitor over Georgetown and Horry counties, filed a notice with the court this week that he plans to appeal Judge Steven John’s ruling directly to the state Supreme Court.
The move, which was expected, comes a month after John reaffirmed his August 2019 ruling that struck down civil asset forfeiture in his circuit. The solicitor has 30 days to file the appeal, and he said it should be ready sooner than that. John’s ruling left the solicitor’s office without recourse in any case where it has seized assets from people, whether cash or vehicles or weapons. Richardson said so far they’ve managed to keep in storage all property that they've seized, but until the law is changed or John’s ruling overturned, every asset forfeiture case has stalled and they will continue to have to keep it in storage or decide to return it.
Read the entire article here at: greenvilleonline.com
(1/28/20 -- Forbes)
New Jersey Is Now The 16th State To Require Convictions For Civil Forfeiture
New Jersey became the latest state to protect individuals from civil forfeiture, which lets police and prosecutors confiscate property without ever having to charge someone with a crime. Signed by Gov. Phil Murphy last week, under the new law (A.4970), prosecutors will need to secure a criminal conviction to forfeit property valued at or below $10,000, or less than $1,000 in cash. Any property seized under those thresholds will have to be returned if an owner is acquitted, or if prosecutors dismiss or don’t bring charges.
“Far too often, individuals involved in cases of this nature face the onerous task of reclaiming their property in a system that can make doing so more expensive than the property itself,” the bill's Assembly sponsors, Nicholas Chiaravalloti (D-Hudson), Shavonda Sumter (D-Bergen, Passaic) and Nancy Pinkin (D-Middlesex), said in a joint statement. “This measure is designed to ensure that, barring a criminal conviction, an owner can reclaim their property more readily and fairly.”
Read the entire article here at: forbes.com
(1/28/20 -- SunSentinel)
Agents seized this mom’s $15,000 in a raid. Now the Supreme Court may weigh in to help her.
A mom was saving up money for her daughter’s 15th birthday, planning an unforgettable coming-of-age celebration. Imagine the mother’s surprise when federal agents raided her home and seized the $15,000 in cash she was planning to use to pay for the party. Miladis Salgado is a 54-year-old Colombian immigrant who splits her time working at an airport duty-free store and Subway sandwich shop. It was heartbreaking to lose the funds: “That was money I’d saved for my daughter’s quinceanera,” she said. The agents raided Salgado’s suburban West Kendall home in May 2015 because they were acting on a bogus tip from a confidential narcotics informant, according to court records. But the lead agent on the case would later admit the cash was clean, federal records show.
Still, it took almost two years and a legal battle for the government to give Salgado back her cash, and according to her court filings, federal authorities refused to pay her attorney’s fees, which means she’s still out $5,000. Just as her petition to get her money back was about to be ruled on by a federal judge, the government turned around and cut her a check, her Supreme Court filing explains. As the filing goes on to argue, government attorneys managed to skirt provisions in a federal law that mandates that people be made whole financially after their assets are returned because they forked over the seized cash before a judge could order to them to do so.
Read the entire article here at: sun-sentinel.com
(1/26/20 -- Law 360)
Rigged Forfeiture Law Seizes Property In 4 Steps
Police and tow companies make natural partners. Law enforcement agencies need some way to transport seized cars following roadside arrests and impounds, and service providers with the right equipment are happy to oblige. They get paid regardless of anyone’s guilt or innocence. The business arrangement backfires, however, when the people who normally winch someone else’s vehicle onto a dolly or flatbed find a rival firm hauling away their trucks. That’s what happened to Gary Smith Sr. and Gary Smith Jr. on Sept. 17, 2019, in Semmes, Alabama. The father and son, co-owners of SOS Towing Inc., lost their entire fleet in the same moneymaking scheme that their family business has helped run for years with the Mobile police department. Call it irony. The secretive government program, built around civil forfeiture laws that multiplied in the 1980s, sometimes starts with allegations of drug possession, DUI or other crimes. But agencies do not need a conviction or even an arrest to take and permanently keep someone’s cash, jewelry, vehicle or other property.
Read the entire article here at: law360.com
(1/28/20 -- Idaho Press)
Judge: CBD company must forfeit hemp shipment to ISP
A Colorado-based CBD company must forfeit the 6,701 pounds of industrial hemp, at one time valued at $1.3 million, that the Idaho State Police seized a year ago as a trucker drove the product from Oregon to Colorado, a judge ruled last week. Fourth District Judge Jonathan Medema wrote that the hemp in question, which passed tests to be considered hemp under federal law, was still a controlled substance under Idaho law. He also wrote that possession of any plants of the genus cannabis is illegal in Idaho. “Under Idaho law, it is a crime to possess any plant with that genus, unless one possesses only the mature stalks of the plant,” Medema wrote in a 33-page memorandum filed Jan. 21 in a lawsuit between the company, Big Sky Scientific, and the Idaho State Police.
Thanks to the 2018 Farm Bill, under federal law, hemp is legal for interstate transport provided it meets certain requirements. Any substance containing any THC at all, however, is considered marijuana and illegal in Idaho. In February, Big Sky Scientific sued the state police in an attempt to regain the shipment, and the two entities have been locked in a legal battle ever since. Both sides filed motions asking Medema to issue a summary judgment, meaning a decision in favor of one side or the other without a trial, on whether the company must forfeit the hemp. He issued that judgment Jan. 21 in favor of the Idaho State Police.
Read the entire article here at: idahopress.com
(1/23/20 -- Wicked Local)
Somerville community wants more police oversight in the wake of SPD presence at Boston’s ‘Straight Pride Parade’
The parade may have been in August, but the Somerville community is not done holding the police and city accountable. On Jan. 22, around 100 community members, officers, staff, and elected officials gathered at the Argenziano School for a community dialogue on Somerville Police involvement in the Boston “Straight Pride Parade.” “The police department and city take our responsibility seriously and we are committed to community policing that protects everyone, especially those who are vulnerable and more likely to be marginalized,” said Mayor Joe Curtatone. “Still, what we’ve heard from people’s experiences are a lot of concerns that have to be addressed...We do recognize and admit [the parade] was just a display of white nationalist hate.”
According to an After Action Report released by the city on Nov. 14, the Boston Police Department informed the SPD of an anticipated mutual aid request for Aug. 31. On Aug. 22, the SPD received a formal written request from the Boston Police Commissioner for “any assets available,” specifically the COBRA unit (Cops on Bikes for Regional Assistance) in high visibility gear. Thirteen officers were assigned to the parade, specifically to “protect and monitor counter protestors” first at Arlington and Boylston streets, then Boylston and Tremont streets, and finally Cambridge Street in front of Boston City Hall, always remaining a cohesive group.
After the event, numerous videos circulated showing officers, including Somerville police, arresting or assisting in arresting counter-protestors. The city quickly promised a full review, which launched Sept. 2. On Sept. 12, 116 residents submitted a joint letter to the City Council in “alarm and outrage” regarding Somerville Police action at the parade, which prompted the council to hold a public hearing on this issue on Sept. 18. Since then, the city said it is taking “efforts to address concerns and requests raised at the hearing” and the January community dialogue is meant to get ideas for next-steps from the community. The dialogue was monitored by Cambridge-based Consensus Building Institute, which will release a report with ideas and questions for the city within 2-3 weeks.
Read the entire article here at: wickedlocal.com
(1/23/20 -- Arkansas Democrat Gazette)
Attorneys ask to pause forfeiture suit until sisters' Arkansas fraud case ends
Attorneys on both sides of a lawsuit that the government filed in October to seize seven properties it says were purchased with proceeds of a fraud scheme asked a federal judge Wednesday to halt all activity while a related criminal case plays out in another court. In the lawsuit, the U.S. attorney's office contends that the real estate in Little Rock, North Little Rock and Texas should be turned over to the government because all the parcels were bought with proceeds of a fraud scheme involving four sisters and a daughter of one.
The motion to stay the civil proceedings cited a related criminal case that was filed against the women, an attorney and a tax preparer in December, also in the Eastern District of Arkansas. The 40-page indictment, handed up Dec. 5 by a federal grand jury, levels 115 charges altogether against the women, attorney Everett Martindale of Little Rock and tax preparer Jerry Green of Grand Prairie, Texas. The sisters are Lynda Bryant-Charles of Hot Springs; Rosie Bryant of Colleyville, Texas; Delois Bryant of North Little Rock; and Brenda Sherpell of Gainesville, Texas. Also charged is Bryant-Charles' daughter, Niki Charles of Sherwood.
Read the entire article here at: arkansasonline.com
(1/22/20 -- Patch)
Former Driver's Ed Teacher Faces Car Forfeiture
Nestor Nowak, who was found passed out behind the wheel of the driver's education car in front of Joliet Central High School on April 6, 2017, may have his 2019 Toyota Camry declared a forfeited asset for the police, court records show. On Wednesday, the Will County State's Attorney's Office of Jim Glasgow asked a judge to confiscate the automobile of the former Joliet, IL, Township High School driver's education teacher in connection with Nowak's latest criminal charge, driving while license revoked.
Read the entire article here at: patch.com
(1/21/20 -- Star Advertiser)
U.S. seeks forfeiture of 2 more properties connected with illegal gaming
The U.S. Attorney’s office for the District of Hawaii announced Tuesday it is seeking forfeiture of two more properties involved in an illegal gambling operation. They are the residences of some of the individuals involved and include properties at 555 South St. and 2609 B Liliha St. U.S. Attorney Kenji Price announced today an amended civil complaint was filed alleging the Liliha house contained 24 illegal gaming machines, gaming machine equipment, ledgers, work schedules and other documents related to the operation.
Read the entire article here at: staradvertiser.com
(1/21/20 -- Sentinel-Record)
Prosecutor addresses sale of forfeited property
A couple linked to a marijuana growing operation avoided criminal charges by cooperating in a related investigation and signing over more than 30 acres of land to the local drug task force, according to information obtained from the Garland County, AR, prosecuting attorney's office and court records. The prosecutor's office issued a news release earlier this month in response to The Sentinel-Record's repeated requests for a statement on the expropriation of Roy Don and Silvia Martin's more than 30-acre Ragweed Valley Road property in Royal without accompanying criminal charges.
Agreements reached with the Martins in the civil claim prosecutors filed against the property in September 2016 stipulated the couple would face no criminal jeopardy if it consented to the forfeiture of their property. They waived their right to a hearing challenging the forfeiture claim and the statutory requirement that a real estate forfeiture be accompanied by a Class B or higher felony conviction, according to the agreement. The release said an arrest warrant for Mr. Martin was withdrawn in exchange for his cooperation in a multi-state investigation related to the Royal growing operation, but his assistance proved short-lived. Mr. Martin died in early November of 2016, the release said, less than three weeks after he signed the forfeiture agreement.
Read the entire article here at: hotsr.com
(1/17/20 -- TechDirt)
City Of Dallas Shuts Down Business Of Man Who Called Cops Over 100 Times In 20 Months To Deal With Criminals Near His Car Wash
Let's talk about nuisance abatement laws. These are laws cities can use to shut down businesses that appear to draw more than their fair share of the criminal element. If you're a fan of asset forfeiture, you'll love nuisance laws. By abdicating their law enforcement responsibilities, cities can have their lower cost cake and eat your property too. It's win-win for cities, who love to use laws like this to effectively seize property from citizens who have the misfortune to operate legitimate businesses in high crime areas.
Here's how it works in Dallas, Texas. The city says business owners must pay for their own security devices and personnel to keep their businesses free of criminals. No business will be compensated for these additional costs. All cops need to do is throw a couple of placards at the business and the city takes it from there. Criminal activity in the area is now the responsibility of businesses in the area. Can't get criminals to get off your property? Too bad. It's the city's property now.
The first efforts involve shaming the business owners for things they likely cannot control. This isn't the only step taken, though. The placards are the beginning. If the city feels the business owner isn't doing enough to control crime in the area (surely that's a law enforcement job?), it can shut the business down and keep fining it for anything and everything it can think of until the business owner is insolvent and has to sell the property. A South Dallas car wash owner has been fighting the city on and off for most of three decades over its application of nuisance laws. The city has already shut down Dale Davenport's car wash. City council members claim Davenport is to blame for the crime that surrounds his business. It also claims he's done next to nothing to solve a problem he didn't create.
Davenport fought back. He demanded the city turn over 911 call records linked to his business in order to show the problem isn't his, but the Dallas Police Department's. After several months of being stonewalled, he has finally obtained the documents he needs to show the city it's not doing all it can to combat crime. Jim Schutze of the Dallas Observer has been following this fight for years and has the details. It's not just a few calls scattered over several months. Davenport called the cops constantly, asking them to come deal with the criminal element that seemed to feel it could just hang out at his place of business. The city says crime is Davenport's fault. The record(s) [PDF] show this is a failure of city agencies, most notably the Dallas PD.
Davenport is suing the city and the hundreds of pages of 911 calls are vital to his litigation. The city wants to take his property, claiming he hasn't fulfilled his obligations as a citizen and business owner. 414 pages of 911 calls says otherwise. Davenport (and his father before him) have been pleading for the city to clean up a crime-infested area filled with drug houses and the criminal element drawn to this area by the (apparently) unchecked drug trade.
Read the entire article here at: techdirt.com
(1/17/20 -- The Telegraph)
Alton man accused of dealing pot faces felony charge, forfeiture of $1,400
An Alton, IL, man is facing a felony drug charge and loss of $1,400 after police stopped the car he was driving for minor traffic violations and found more marijuana that one can legally possess. Dvionne D. Garlington, 28, of the 1100 block of Putnam Street, is charged with unlawful possession of marijuana with intent to deliver after police found 42 grams of it in the car he was driving Jan. 4. Details of the case became public Friday when the Madison County State’s Attorney’s Office filed a suit to obtain the money found along with the marijuana.
A sworn statement in support of the forfeiture claims that Garlington failed to stop at an intersection and failed to signal a turn and Seminary and Bostwick streets. Garlington allegedly fled from the vehicle after an officer made a traffic stop. He was stopped a short time later and charged with obstruction of justice for allegedly running away. Bail was set at $10,000. The court document claims Garlington gave inconsistent statements about the money and that he has no apparent source of income or support. The money may be seized under a state law that allows authorities to take possession of assets connected to the illegal sale of drugs.
(1/16/20 -- Times-Hearld)
U.S. Attorney’s Office collected $104,469,755 in criminal and civil actions
In 2019, the U.S. Attorney’s Office collected $104,469,755 in criminal and civil actions during the fiscal year ending on Sept. 30, U.S. Attorney McGregor W. Scott announced Thursday. Of this amount, $78,774,806 was in civil actions and $25,694,949 was in criminal actions. Working with other U.S. Attorney’s Offices and components of the Department of Justice, the office also collected an additional $1,947,052 in cases. From this amount, $1,928,713 was collected in civil actions and $18,339 was collected in criminal actions. Partnering with other offices, it collected $23,712,892 in asset forfeiture actions. These figures represent funds actually received during the year, not judgments or settlements that have not yet been paid.
Read the entire article here at: timesheraldonline.com
(1/16/20 -- BleepingComputer)
WeLeakInfo.com Seized For Selling Info from Data Breaches, 2 Arrested
As a clear indication of how law enforcement views the commercial disclosure of stolen information, the FBI has seized the WeLeakInfo.com domain and international law enforcement arrested two individuals for selling subscriptions to data exposed in breaches. These accessed credentials were then used to conduct attacks in the UK, Germany, and the US. In coordination with the UK NCA, the Netherlands National Police Corps, the German Bundeskriminalamt, and the Police Service of Northern Ireland. the FBI took ownership of the WeLeakInfo.com domain name and added a notice stating it was seized.
According to a U.S. Department of Justice announcement, the domain was seized for offering subscriptions that allowed subscribers to search for specific information exposed in data breaches.
Read the entire article here at: bleepingcomputer.com
(1/16/20 -- Indiana Lawyer)
Southern District collects more than $3M in asset forfeiture in FY19
The Southern District of Indiana collected more than $10 million from criminal and civil actions and asset forfeitures in fiscal year 2019, with more than $3 million collected through asset forfeitures. Southern District U.S. Attorney Josh Minkler announced the FY19 collections totals last week. The funds were collected through the Asset Recovery Unit, which includes the Financial Litigation Unit and the Asset Forfeiture Unit. Of the $10,176,838 collected in FY19, $3,301,695 came from asset forfeitures. Criminal actions accounted for $5,115,032, while civil actions accounted for $1,760,111.
Read the entire article here at: theindianalawyer.com
(1/15/20 -- Institute For Justice)
Pittsburgh Airport Forfeiture
Retired railroad engineer Terry Rolin’s life savings were seized by the government, but he hasn’t been charged with any crime. Terry saved up cash and kept it in his Pittsburgh home over many years. But when he moved out of his old house into a new, smaller apartment he didn’t feel safe keeping so much in cash savings. He asked his daughter, Rebecca Brown, to take the money home with her to Boston, deposit it into a new joint bank account, and use the money to replace his teeth and fix his truck, among other needs. Concerned about flying with the more than $82,000 her father had entrusted to her, Rebecca checked online to make sure that she didn’t need to do anything to take the money with her on the plane. She found out that flying domestically with any amount of cash is completely legal. So, she packed the money in her carry-on and headed to the airport. But she didn’t make it to Boston with her father’s life savings. Her bag was held by the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) after she went through security screening because the money showed up on their X-ray. She was questioned by Pennsylvania State Troopers and then further by a Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agent. The DEA agent took the money without charging Rebecca with a crime or arresting her. After making them wait for months, the government told Terry and Rebecca that it wants to take that money for good using a legal process called civil forfeiture.
Terry and Rebecca didn’t do anything wrong. That’s why they are teaming up with the Institute for Justice (IJ) to file a lawsuit to get the money back from DEA. Furthermore, their lawsuit is a class action against DEA and TSA for practices that violate the constitution and are outside TSA’s legal authority. Finally, the individual DEA agent is being sued for damages because of his violation of Rebecca’s and Terry’s rights.
Read the entire article here at: ij.org
(1/15/20 -- Wall Street Journal)
Virgin Islands Accuse Jeffrey Epstein of Trafficking Girls Until 2018, Sue For Assets
U.S. Virgin Islands prosecutors said Wednesday that disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein abused hundreds of young women and girls until 2018, broadening the scope of his sexual trafficking by more than a decade.
Read the entire article here at: wsj.com
(1/16/20 -- NJ.com)
N.J. will now track how much money and property cops seize from residents
State authorities will have to keep a closer eye on how much money and property New Jersey police departments are seizing from people in the course of their duties — and why. Gov. Phil Murphy signed legislation Monday requiring “comprehensive disclosure and and transparency” for the state’s system of civil asset forfeiture, a common but controversial practice through which prosecutors can use the civil courts to go after property they believe is connected to criminal activity.
Under the bill (S1963), county prosecutors would submit quarterly reports to the Attorney General detailing seizure and forfeiture activities by law enforcement agencies within their county. A previous version was vetoed by former Gov. Chris Christie in 2017.
Under the new law, prosecutors are now required to specify the law enforcement agency involved in a confiscation, details of what was seized, the underlying crime associated with the seizure and whether the person was ultimately convicted of the crime, among other information.
Read the entire article here at: nj.com
(1/15/20 -- WFPL)
Police Must Detail Seizures Or Lose Training Money Under Proposed Bill
A bill filed this week in the General Assembly would require law enforcement agencies to disclose more details about cash and property seized through asset forfeiture or be subjected to financial penalties. Rep. Reginald Meeks, a Louisville Democrat, is sponsoring the measure, which would beef up existing reporting requirements. Agencies that don’t comply would lose $4,000 reimbursements from a state fund for individual officers who complete continued training.
Law enforcement agencies are already required to file annual reports detailing how much cash and property they seize, but not all do. State data analyzed by the Kentucky Center for Investigative Reporting found just 11 percent of law enforcement agencies submitted required reports each year between fiscal years 2013-2017. In that time, the agencies that did submit the required reports seized about $36 million.
Read the entire article here at: wfpl.org
(1/15/20 -- The Washington Post)
The DEA seized her father’s life savings at an airport without alleging any crime occurred, lawsuit says
Every dollar Terry Rolin had saved over a lifetime was stacked in a large Tupperware container: $82,373. At 79, he was aging and worried about keeping so much cash on hand, his daughter said, so during one of her visits he asked her to open a joint bank account. Rebecca Brown was catching a flight home from the Pittsburgh airport early the next day and said she didn’t have time to stop at a bank. She confirmed on a government website that it’s legal to carry any amount of cash on a domestic flight and tucked the money in her carry-on. But just minutes before departure in late August, a Drug Enforcement Administration agent met her at the busy gate and questioned her about the cash, which showed up on a security scan. He insisted Brown put Rolin on the phone to confirm her story. Brown said Rolin, who is suffering mental decline, was unable to verify some details.
“He just handed me the phone and said, ‘Your stories don’t match,’ ” Brown recalled the agent saying. “ ‘We’re seizing the cash.’ ” Brown said she was never told she or her father were under suspicion of committing any crime and neither has been charged with anything. A search of her bag turned up no drugs or other contraband. Neither she or her father appear to have criminal records that might raise suspicions.
Brown and Rolin filed a federal, class action Wednesday against the DEA, Transportation Security Administration and agency officials, claiming the agencies violate the Constitution’s ban on unlawful search and seizures by taking cash from travelers without probable cause. The lawsuit claims the only criteria the DEA has for seizing cash is if it finds amounts greater than $5,000. The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Pennsylvania, seeks the return of Rolin’s money and an injunction against the practice.
Dan Alban, a senior attorney for the Virginia-based Institute for Justice, which filed the lawsuit on behalf of Brown and Rolin, said the family’s story is not unique. “This is something that we know is happening all across the United States,” Alban said. “We’ve been contacted by people who have been traveling to buy used cars or buy equipment for their business and had their cash seized.”
Read the entire article here at: washingtonpost.com
(1/14/20 -- The Chronicle)
By The Numbers: Justice Department collects $8.2 million in Oregon
The District of Oregon collected more than $8.2 million in criminal and civil actions and restitution payments made to victims in Fiscal Year 2019, according to a release from U.S. Attorney Billy J. Williams in Portland. The U.S. Attorney’s Office, working with partner agencies and divisions, collected $2,925,024 in asset forfeiture actions in FY 2019. Forfeited assets deposited into the Department of Justice Assets Forfeiture Fund are used to restore funds to crime victims and for a variety of law enforcement purposes.
As a whole, the Justice Department collected $9.3 billion in civil and criminal actions in the fiscal year ending Sept. 30, 2019. An example of the district’s collection efforts was in U.S. v. Jiang. In April 2019, Quan Jiang pleaded guilty to one count of trafficking in counterfeit trademarks for his role in smuggling into the U.S. and obtaining refunds for thousands of fake and altered Apple iPhones.
Read the entire article here at: thechronicleonline.com
(1/13/20 -- The Heartland Institute)
Tackling the Opioid Epidemic through Criminal Asset Forfeiture Reform
In 2017, over 420 New Hampshire residents died due to an opioid overdose. Further, the epidemic has cost the New Hampshire economy $6.6 billion between 1999 and 2015. To address the issue, New Hampshire State Representative has introduced House Bill 1563 which would reform the state’s criminal asset forfeiture laws. Under the proposed bill, proceeds that are seized after a criminal conviction would be dispersed to a Governor’s council to use to fund medication, rehabilitation and other programs to address the opioid epidemic.
Read the entire article here at: heartland.org
(1/13/20 -- Insider NJ)
O’Scanlon Asset Forfeiture Bill Signed by Governor
Senator Declan O’Scanlon’s legislation to enhance reporting requirements and transparency for asset forfeiture was signed into law today by the Governor. “Accountability is critical when assets are seized by law enforcement which may have been used in illegal activities,” said O’Scanlon (R-Monmouth). “There is a line we need to walk when it comes to property rights and items that may have been employed in criminal activity.”
O’Scanlon’s bill, S1963, requires prosecutors to compile and submit to the Attorney General quarterly reports concerning asset seizure and forfeiture by law enforcement agencies within that county. “I commend the Governor for signing this bill and recognizing its importance,” O’Scanlon concluded. “We want to do as much as possible to stand with our law enforcement officers while at the same time discouraging any policing for profit pressure that might be placed on them. Enhanced transparency on the civil asset forfeiture front is a good first step to help us understand, and ultimately reform, our asset forfeiture rules and procedures.”
Read the entire article here at: insidernj.com
(1/1320 -- WMTV)
Indiana proposal lets police seize vehicles that pass stopped school buses
An Indiana lawmaker wants to let police in the state seize a vehicle if its driver recklessly passes a school bus which has its stop-arm extended, according to WTHR in Indianapolis. Sen. Ron Alting introduced the bill as way to crack down on people going around school buses when kids are getting on and off, the NBC-affiliate explained. The seizure was compared to how law enforcement is allowed to take a car involved in drug crimes.
The bill is on its way to the state legislature’s judiciary committee, WTHR said. If it passed, the new law would go into effect in July of next year.
(1/10/20 -- STL News)
U.S. Attorney’s Office collects $10,176,838.17 in Fiscal Year 2019
United States Attorney Josh J. Minkler announced today that the Southern District of Indiana collected $10,176,838.17 in criminal and civil actions and asset forfeiture in Fiscal Year 2019. Of this amount, $5,115,032.05 was collected in criminal actions, $1,760,111.12 was collected in civil actions, and $3,301,695 was collected in asset forfeiture funds. Additionally, the Southern District of Indiana worked with other U.S. Attorney’s Offices and components of the Department of Justice to collect an additional $7,422.73 in cases pursued jointly by these offices. Of this amount, $6,405.75 was collected in criminal actions and $1,016.98 was collected in civil actions.
Read the entire article here at: stl.news
(1/6/20 -- Legislative Analyst's Office)
Potential Impacts of Recent State Asset Forfeiture Changes
Overview of Asset Forfeiture. Asset forfeiture refers to the seizure of cash or other items suspected of being tied to crime and the transfer of these items to government ownership. The asset forfeiture process generally involves three steps: (1) seizure of items; (2) adjudication proceedings—held at the federal or state level—to determine whether seizures were appropriate; and (3) distribution of proceeds to various agencies, typically for support of law enforcement activities. Federal and state laws as well as local policies apply to each step, meaning processes differ across the nation and within California.
SB 443 Changed Asset Forfeiture and Required Data on Economic Impact. Chapter 831 of 2016 (SB 443, Mitchell) made various changes to the state’s asset forfeiture processes related to drugs. Specifically, it limited law enforcement’s ability to pursue certain types of asset forfeiture cases at the federal level and required criminal conviction for receipt of proceeds from certain cases pursued at the federal level. It also made changes to California’s asset forfeiture processes by requiring criminal convictions and increasing the burden of proof required for certain seizures. Finally, SB 443 requires our office to provide data to the Legislature about the economic impact of these changes on law enforcement budgets. This report responds to this requirement.
Read the entire article here at: lao.ca.gov
(1/9/20 -- The Daily Republic)
District of South Dakota collects $3.7 million from cases in 2019
The District of South Dakota collected $3,725,183.70 from federal criminal and civil actions in the 2019 fiscal year, U.S. Attorney Ron Parsons announced Tuesday. The total amount collected is 72 percent higher than the $2.16 million collected in fiscal year 2018 and is comprised of about $3.38 million from criminal actions and $347,037.51 from civil actions.
So far in the 2020 fiscal year, which began on Oct. 1, the District of South Dakota has collected $20.25 million in a false claims act settlement. In the 2019 fiscal year, an additional $69,526 was collected in asset forfeiture actions, which are deposited into the Department of Justice Assets Forfeiture Fund to provide funds to victims of crimes and for law enforcement purposes. The U.S. Department of Justice collected more than $9 billion in total from criminal and civil actions in the 2019 fiscal year.
(1/9/20 -- Texarkana Gazette)
Indictment accuses 12 of Medicare fraud - Government seeks forfeiture of $36.2 million from suspects in three states
A 60-page federal indictment unsealed Wednesday accuses 12 people of defrauding the government of more than $36 million in a kickback scheme involving Medicare. The indictment accuses 12 defendants from Texas, Arizona and California of violating federal law known as the "anti-kickback statute" which prohibits incentivizing referrals for treatment and lab testing involving Medicare patients. The indictment's single count charges Philip Lamb, Nicolas Arroyo, Vincent Marchetti Jr., William Flowers, Steven Donofrio, James J. Walker Jr., Timothy Armstrong, Virginia Blake Herrin, Patrick Ridgeway, Chismere Mallard, Ray W. Ng and Ashley Kretzschmar with violating federal law preventing kickbacks for medical referrals. Walker, Armstrong and Herrin reside in Frisco, Texas, and Flowers resides in Houston, according to the indictment. The other defendants reside in Arizona and California.
"Arrangements in which laboratories provide free or below-market goods or services to physicians or make payments to physicians that are not commercially reasonable in the absence of Federal health care program referrals potentially raise four major concerns typically associated with kickbacks corruption of medical judgment, overutilization, increased costs to the Federal health care programs and beneficiaries, and unfair competition," the indictment states. "This is because such transfers of value may induce physicians to order tests from a laboratory that provides them with remuneration, rather than the laboratory that provides the best, most clinically appropriate service. Such transfers of value also may induce physicians to order more laboratory tests than are medically necessary, particularly when the transfers of value are tied to, or take into account, the volume or value of business generated by the physician."
Read the entire article here at: texarkanagazette.com
(1/8/20 -- New Jersey Law Journal)
Defendant's Response to Civil Forfeiture Complaint Held Inadmissible in Criminal Trial
In State v. Luis Melendez, the state Supreme Court held that statements made by a suspected drug dealer in response to a civil forfeiture complaint in an effort to keep money seized in an apartment raid cannot be used against him in a parallel criminal proceeding. The court affirmed and modified the Appellate Division’s ruling that defendant Luis Melendez’s constitutional rights were violated.
“Defendant faced an untenable situation—forced to choose between his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination and his right not to be deprived of property in the forfeiture matter without due process,” wrote Chief Justice Stuart Rabner in Wednesday’s opinion. “Under the reasoning of Garrity v. New Jersey, defendants cannot be compelled to give up their Fifth Amendment protections in that way. “Like the Appellate Division, we find the error was harmless in light of other strong evidence connecting defendant to the apartment. Accordingly, we affirm and modify the judgment of the Appellate Division,” Rabner said.
Read the entire article here at: law.com
(1/7/20 -- Y-City News)
Uncooperative landlord of nuisance property agrees to forfeit rental house following felony
A property owner who law enforcement say refused to assist in removing tenants accused of engaging in drug activity in a home on Indiana Street is now facing legal trouble of his own. According to Assistant Prosecuting Attorney John Litle, the landlord, Harold Barnhart, was uncooperative when asked to address the ongoing illegal activity occurring at his rental property.
In a letter sent to Barnhart on Aug. 30, 2019, Litle informed Barnhart the drug trafficking activity happening at 728 Indiana St. was a violation of state law and considered a public nuisance. The letter detailed 30 nuisance activities occurring throughout the year, including drug dealing, disturbances, gunfire, fights and overdoses.
Read the entire article here at: ycitynews.com
(1/6/20 -- VW Public Broadcasting)
Lawmakers Consider Taking On Civil Asset Forfeiture Reform In 2020
According to a presentation to lawmakers from the Justice Action Network, a bipartisan group focused on national and state level criminal justice reform, 33 states have updated their laws for civil asset forfeiture since 2014. That’s referring to an action law enforcement can take to seize property that might be involved with criminal enterprises.
The process requires the lowest level of proof from law enforcement, and it’s expensive for the accused to obtain the legal action necessary to obtain their property back. Property can be seized with or without a criminal conviction. Civil asset forfeiture officially dates back to the 1980s ‘War on Drugs.’
Jason Huffman, state director for American for Prosperity, told lawmakers civil asset forfeiture is more than a violation of property rights — it’s a process that demands transparency and accountability.
Read the entire article here at: wvpublic.org
(1/6/20 -- Click On Detroit)
11 new Michigan laws taking effect in 2020
ASSET FORFEITURE: As of Wednesday, law enforcement is prohibited from permanently taking ownership of cash and other property seized in drug cases unless there is a criminal conviction or the assets are worth more than $50,000. The laws target civil asset forfeiture, a practice that critics say is abused to fund police activities.
Read the entire article here at: clickondetroit.com
(1/6/20 -- Mackinac Center)
Forfeiture Cases Can Take Years, Even for the Innocent; Supreme Court May Help
Miladis Salgado is a Florida mom who had $15,000 seized and forfeited by the federal government. But she was never even charged with criminal activity. For two years, she fought in court and eventually had her property returned. But, in the meantime, she spent a third of her life savings on legal fees. An innocent woman lost several years of her life and a lot of her money. She has no recourse to correct this wrongdoing by the government except to continue her fight in court.
The Institute for Justice has filed a petition with the U.S. Supreme Court asking them to rule that “when the government dismisses a forfeiture case it spent years litigating, the property owner from whom cash was taken has ‘substantially prevailed’ under [the law].” In practical terms, this means that if a person is not found guilty, the government cannot simply walk away in order to avoid having to pay them compensation for their time and legal efforts. The Mackinac Center Legal Foundation has signed on to an amicus brief in support.
Read the entire article here at: mackinac.org
(1/4/20 -- Hawaii Public Radio)
Hawaii's New Asset Forfeiture Rules Take Effect Jan. 17
New requirements will apply to local enforcement authorities in seizing cars and other property of criminals under long-awaited asset forfeiture rules issued by the Hawaii attorney general on Dec. 31. The rules take effect Jan. 17 and require county prosecutors to describe the crimes that justify the seizure of private property under state statutes and to petition the attorney general for approval.
The seizure program, known as civil asset forfeiture, is used in all 50 states to confiscate financial and other property of criminals. Some states require a criminal conviction before the property can be taken but most jurisdictions, including Hawaii, require police only demonstrate probable cause to initiate a seizure. Hawaii's asset forfeiture program has been in place for over 30 years, but administrative rules had not been previously issued.
Read the entire article here at: hawaiipublicradio.org
(1/3/20 -- Yale Law Journal)
Excessive Fines and Punishments
This Collection considers the implications of the Supreme Court’s decision in Timbs v. Indiana. It discusses the emergence of an anti-ruination principle for punishment, the suitability of the Excessive Fines Clause’s “gross proportionality” standard, and the development of a forfeiture jurisprudence that would inquire into individual and familial hardship.
Read the entire article here at: yalelawjournal.org
(1/2/20 -- Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly)
10 ‘resolutions’ for 2020
5. Enact civil forfeiture reform. Massachusetts’ civil forfeiture scheme has been subject to criticism for years. State forfeiture law lacks due process protections, provides a strong incentive for law enforcement agencies to seek civil forfeiture because they can retain up to 100 percent of seized assets to supplement their budgets, and uses only a probable cause standard of proof in determining whether seizure property was involved in a crime. Other states are already moving forward with civil forfeiture reform. 2020 should be the year Massachusetts follows suit.
Read the entire article here at: masslawyersweekly.com
(12/31/19 -- Argus Leader)
State seeks $16,000 in forfeiture from December drug bust
The Attorney General’s Office is after more than $16,000 law enforcement seized in a drug bust earlier this month. In a civil suit, the state is seeking the $16,341 that police confiscated from two people accused of having more than 10 pounds of methamphetamine on them during a December search. The money can be put into the state drug control fund. The fund is full of dollars seized under the state’s asset forfeiture laws, allowing police to immediately take money and property suspected of being connected to illegal substances.
Law enforcement executed a search warrant on Dec. 11 for two rooms at the Holiday Inn on West Eighth Street, according to the civil suit. The rooms were rented by Darren Anthony Hendrix, who police saw throw a bag of about 114 grams of meth off the balcony, according to court documents.
Read the entire article here at: argusleader.com
(12/30/19 -- Reason)
Missouri Cops Used Federal Loophole To Seize $2.6 Million From Drivers Who They Never Charged With Crimes
A new report uncovers a shocking civil asset forfeiture practice that allowed Missouri police to seize at least $2.6 million during traffic stops in a single year. As part of a larger series on national asset forfeiture cases organized by the Pulitzer Center, St. Louis Public Radio reported that St. Charles County law enforcement coerced at least 39 unsuspecting motorists into signing over their assets in 2018.
According to the report, officers would lie in wait for a car committing a minor traffic violation. Upon seeing the minor violation, officers would then pull the car over, question the motorist, and then direct them to a private towing lot owned by Superior Towing. While in the lot, officers would ask more questions and search the vehicle, all in the hopes of finding large amounts of cash or connections to drugs. If a trained police dog smelled marijuana on the cash, officers then gave the motorists two options: they could go to jail, or sign their possessions away to the department and leave with a traffic ticket. In the 39 documented stops, no criminal charges were filed. A third of the targets were stopped and taken to the lot after midnight. Additionally, nearly half of the drivers had either Hispanic or Asian surnames.
Read the entire article here at: reason.com
(12/30/19 -- NPR)
How A Quiet Police Lobbying Campaign Killed Civil Asset Forfeiture Reform In Missouri
When the U.S. Supreme Court ruled earlier this year that police had to abide by the Bill of Rights when they seize property from people, Rep. Shamed Dogan, R-Baldwin, thought he finally had the momentum to reform civil asset forfeiture and end what he calls “policing for profit.” He thought he would be able to stop Missouri police from pulling over motorists, seizing cash without a crime and keeping the money for departmental expenditures. But Dogan was deeply disappointed by the end of the 2019 Missouri legislative session. A quiet lobbying campaign by law enforcement killed his reform and accused him of being “anti-police.”
No police officer or prosecutor testified in public against Dogan’s bill. But their behind-the-scenes lobbying prompted Rep. Holly Rehder, R-Sikeston, chair of the House Rules Committee, to kill the bill. Rehder did not respond to requests for comment. Dogan, a libertarian Republican, has been trying to reform civil asset forfeiture for years. He wants to remove the incentive for police to seize cash they can spend on departmental expenditures.
Read the entire article here at: kcur.org
(12/27/19 -- The Indiana Lawyer)
Civil forfeiture amendments don’t defeat prior forfeiture action, COA says
Legislative amendments to Indiana’s much-debated civil forfeiture scheme did not defeat a pre-existing forfeiture action in state court, the Indiana Court of Appeals ruled Friday, finding the amendments did not constitute an ex post facto law. The state of Indiana, Indianapolis/Marion County and the Indianapolis Metropolitan Law Enforcement Agency filed a forfeiture action against Eric Butler, $236 and his 2004 Pontiac Grand Prix after a 2016 traffic stop revealed that Butler had marijuana and heroin in the Pontiac, as well as the $236. Butler also pleaded guilty to a state-law drug felony, while default judgment was entered against him in the forfeiture action.
Meanwhile, in August 2017, Indiana Southern District Chief Judge Jane Magnus-Stinson struck down part of Indiana’s civil forfeiture law in her ruling in Leroy Washington v. Marion County Prosecutor, et al., 1:16-cv-02980. The federal court said the state’s practice of withholding a seized vehicle without a “post-seizure, pre-forfeiture hearing” violated the Fifth and 14th amendments’ due process protections. Based upon that ruling, the appellants in the instant case – which include Butler, the money and the Pontiac – moved for relief from the earlier default judgment. Meanwhile, in response to the federal court ruling, the Indiana General Assembly in 2018 passed a wide-ranging civil forfeiture reform bill that was designed to increase due process protections for property owners whose property is seized.
Read the entire article here at: theindianalawyer.com
(12/26/19 -- NorthcentralPA.com)
U.S. Attorney's Office collects more than $15 million in civil and criminal actions this year
Harrisburg – This year, the U.S. Attorney’s Office Middle District of Pennsylvania collected $15,249,331 in criminal and civil actions for the fiscal year of 2019, according to U.S. Attorney David J. Freed. Of this amount, $2,431,898 was collected in criminal actions and $12,817,433 was collected in civil actions. The Middle District of Pennsylvania worked with other U.S. Attorney’s Offices and components of the Department of Justice to collect an additional $1,447,320 in cases pursued jointly by these offices. Of this amount, $13,767 was collected in criminal actions and $1,433,552 was collected in civil actions.
“The United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania is dedicated to the protection of our fellow law-abiding citizens, whether we are battling the scourge of drugs and violent crime or attacking scams designed to defraud government agencies,” Freed said. “The diligent efforts of our hardworking attorneys and staff have again resulted in our collections far exceeding our office budget. In addition, our successes in the realm of asset forfeiture provide direct benefits to crime victims and strong support of numerous law enforcement initiatives.”
Read the entire article here at: northcentralpa.com
(12/25/19 -- Citizen Times)
2019 Was a Banner Year for Drug Reform
As the clock ticks down toward 2020, it’s worth taking a moment to look back and reflect on what has gone on in the world of drug policy this year. From marijuana to psychedelics to the lingering overdose crisis to the emergence of a new vaping-related illness, a lot happened. Here are some of the highlights.
U.S. Supreme Court Unanimously Reins in Asset Forfeiture
In a February victory for proponents of civil asset forfeiture reform, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Timbs v. Indiana that the Eighth Amendment’s Excessive Fines Clause applies to states, thereby prohibiting state and local governments from collecting excessive fines, fees and forfeitures. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg wrote the majority opinion. “[T]he protection against excessive fines guards against abuses of government’s punitive or criminal-law-enforcement authority,” Ginsburg wrote. The case involved the seizure of a $42,000 Land Rover over a drug sale of $225. There was more progress on the asset forfeiture front on the state level, too: Bills to either end civil asset forfeiture entirely or to restrict it passed this year in Alabama, Arkansas, Michigan, and North Dakota, and a South Carolina circuit court judge ruled civil asset forfeiture unconstitutional, setting up a fight in state appeals courts there.
Read the entire article here at: citizentruth.org
(12/23/19 -- WCSC 5)
Seizing money and assets to fund law enforcement efforts
Law enforcement officers in the Lowcountry seized more than a million dollars of money and assets last year that they suspected were related to drugs. But potential changes to the law would mean officers would have to follow stricter rules for seizing money and property.
Charleston County Sheriff Al Canon says such changes would burden taxpayers and help drug dealers. “We’ve had a huge upsurge in drug use. It is a huge, huge problem. And if the government takes away one of the tools we have to really hit them, that’s only gonna help the drug dealers.” That tool he’s talking about is the ability to seize cash or any items that officers think are related to drug money.
Read the entire article here at: live5news.com
(12/23/19 -- WAAY 31)
State prosecutors sue to seize house, other property of Muscle Shoals optometrist
A Muscle Shoals optometrist who is accused of being behind a massive marijuana growing operation in Wayne County, Tenn., may have to turn over his house and some other property to Colbert County officials. A pair of civil suits were filed against some of the property of Dr. Stuart Marc Greenberg on Friday, December 20, 2019. That was the same day he turned himself into the Colbert County Jail and was formally charged with Drug Trafficking as well as two counts of Unlawful Possession of a Controlled Substance.
One of the lawsuits names the home of Dr. Greenberg, 102 Saint Andrews Drive, Muscle Shoals, as the defendant of the case. The other case was brought against $888.00 in cash, a Ruger LC9 .9mm pistol and three Casascius Bitcoin.
Read the entire article here at: waaytv.com
(12/23/19 -- Greenville News)
TAKEN investigation led to action in 2019; The Greenville News plans to do more in 2020
Journalists can’t solve complex challenges on our own. But we can highlight the issues our communities face and point toward solutions. And we can hold the powerful accountable to following the path toward important reforms. That was our goal when we discovered that South Carolina’s civil asset forfeiture system is broken.
Our journey began with what many would have considered an insignificant case – a barber who lost $25,000 after a traffic stop. With the money gone, Ortagus Bennett’s business, First Class Barber, went into default. He couldn’t make his loan payments or pay the attorney he had to hire to get the money back. Bennett’s life was thrown into turmoil because of a tail-light violation. His story led us down a trail that revealed a broken system. The result of the ensuing three years of reporting was the groundbreaking investigative series called TAKEN.
Read the entire article here at: greenvilleonline.com
(12/17/19 -- WAGM)
U.S. Attorney’s Office Collects Nearly $20 Million for U.S. Taxpayers in Fiscal Year 2019
U.S. Attorney Halsey B. Frank announced today that the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Maine collected over $19.8 million in civil, criminal and asset forfeiture actions in Fiscal Year (FY) 2019. Working with partner agencies and divisions, the office collected $15,248,809 in asset forfeiture actions in FY 2019. Forfeited assets deposited into the Department of Justice Assets Forfeiture Fund are used to restore funds to crime victims and for a variety of law enforcement purposes.
Additionally, the office collected $4,410,030.33 in criminal and civil actions in FY 2019. Of this amount, $2,914,099.52 was collected in criminal actions and $1,495,930.81 was collected in civil actions.
Read the entire article here at: wagmtv.com
(12/17/19 -- Fox)
Burleigh, N.D., Commissioners approve drone, equipment to be paid with civil asset forfeiture funds
Since the beginning of the year, law enforcement has been required by state law to thoroughly report and log civil asset forfeiture funds as well as how they're allocated. The Burleigh County Sheriff's Department just received approval for a new drone at the county commission meeting. The $5,000 plus expense will be taken from forfeiture funds.
This year the sheriff's department became the first in the state to get federal approval to fly over people. The federal aviation administration granted the department several waivers to fly at night, over people and in some restricted areas.
Read the entire article here at: kfyrtv.com
(12/17/19 -- Institute For Justice)
New Jersey Assembly Passes Transparency Bill For Police Seizures
The New Jersey Assembly unanimously passed a bill late Monday that would shine a light on “civil forfeiture,” which lets law enforcement seize property without ever charging the owner with a crime. In New Jersey, once property is forfeited, the government can then keep up to 100% of the proceeds, creating a perverse incentive to confiscate cash, cars and other valuables.
Under the bill (S1963), county prosecutors would submit quarterly reports that detail an agency’s seizure and forfeiture activity, including if they filed any criminal charges when seizing property. S1963 would also require law enforcement to report the date, description and location of the seizure, the agency involved, if the property was claimed by anyone, and its final disposition. Once submitted, a report summary would be made publicly available on an online, searchable database created by the Attorney General. Departments that fail to comply would be required to disgorge any property seized or forfeited during their period of noncompliance, while the property would be returned to their owner. Finally, the bill would codify longstanding state policy on tracking forfeiture spending. According to the Institute for Justice (IJ),county district attorneys collected more than $72.5 million in forfeiture revenue between 2009 and 2013.
Read the entire article here at: ij.org
(12/14.19 -- Aspen Daily News)
Misconduct charge against Eagle County sheriff dropped
The 9th Judicial District Attorney’s Office, acting as a special prosecutor in the case, on Thursday, dropped the second-degree official misconduct charge against Eagle County Sheriff James van Beek. In a seven-page motion filed at 9:49 p.m. the night before van Beek was due back in court, Assistant District Attorney Ben Sollars detailed the law around reporting requirements for state- and federally-confiscated monies, as well as the broader issues anchoring a grand jury’s finding enough probable evidence of wrongdoing for an indictment in August.
The grand jury indictment alleged that van Beek’s office spent state-confiscated monies to the tune of about $17,000 between January 2017 and June 2019 from a reserve fund without getting the appropriate approvals as mandated by a state statute issued in 2017.
Read the entire article here at: aspendailynews.com
(12/13/19 -- Keysnews.com)
Car seized from man accused of impersonating police officer
A Florida man is accused of impersonating a law enforcement officer by installing lights and a siren in his 2009 Bentley and attempting to pull over at least one driver. Christopher Ted Duluk, 30, was arrested Tuesday and charged with falsely impersonating a law enforcement officer, Lee County Sheriff’s officials said in a Facebook post on Wednesday.
The Bentley also had a yellow state of Florida license plate with LED police-style lights, the agency said. In addition, the car had a “speed measurement device” that is similar to what is commonly used by law enforcement officers. The car also had police-style antennas. Deputies seized the vehicle for forfeiture, using the Florida Contraband Forfeiture Act.
“Duluk is not a state employee, and he is not authorized to operate any state vehicles or be in possession of a State of Florida license plate,” the Facebook posting said. Duluk was released from jail on Thursday. Jail records don’t list an attorney for him.
(12/13/19 -- News 13)
Judge standing by ruling on South Carolina civil forfeiture being unconstitutional
A judge is standing by his ruling on South Carolina’s civil forfeiture law violating both federal and state constitutional protections. According to Solicitor Jimmy Richardson, Judge Steven H. John is standing by his decision from earlier in the year. Richardson and John met in open court on December 4 where John said he is standing by his ruling. Richardson says that when the judge gives them an order they will appeal.
The Horry County case that prompted the ruling was the State vs Travis Lee Green. Green is serving a 15-year sentence for dealing drugs. Police seized more than 20,000 dollars in cash from Green after undercover officers bought cocaine from him three times. Police then executed a search warrant. John ruled it was unconstitutional to seize Green’s money using civil asset forfeiture statutes. Representative Russell Fry agrees that the controversial practice is unconstitutional.
Read the entire article here at: wbtw.com
(12/12/19 -- The Meridian Star)
BRETT KITTREDGE: Civil asset forfeiture continues to go after low dollar offenses
According to our analysis at Mississippi Center for Public Policy of the civil asset forfeiture database, only 12 percent of seizures have occurred along an interstate route over the past two years and the average seizure is valued at a little over $7,900. While that is a relatively low number to begin with, there are several outliers that skew the numbers up. Ten of the seizures are of $100,000 or more and the sum of those adds up to a little over $2 million or 47 percent of all seizures. Those 10 seizures have an average value of $204,220, but only represent 2.1 percent of all seizures.
The state has begun to slowly move in the right direction when it comes to civil asset forfeiture. A few years ago, the state mandated that all forfeitures be posted on a central database. This is the only reason we have a view into Mississippi’s civil asset forfeiture world. And then in 2018, the legislature let administrative forfeiture die when the law authorizing the program was not renewed. Previously, administrative forfeiture allowed agents of the state to take property valued under $20,000 and forfeit it by merely obtaining a warrant and providing the individual with a notice.
A massive offensive was launched earlier this year to reinstate administrative forfeiture. Fortunately, those efforts were unsuccessful in the legislature. Still, the bar remains low for forfeiting property. The state is still allowed to seize and keep property through civil forfeiture, a process that requires the state to go before a judge for an adjudication of whether the property should be forfeited, even if the owner does not file suit.
Read the entire article here at: meridianstar.com
(12/11/19 -- The Hill)
Brothers prepare to sue NYPD over hemp-pot mix-up
Two brothers made a move toward suing the New York Police Department over an arrest and seizure of hemp plants that were incorrectly identified as marijuana. Oren and Ronen Levy filed notices of claim Wednesday after police arrested Ronen Levy in early November and confiscated 106 pounds of hemp plants. Prosecutors dropped Ronen Levy’s felony marijuana possession charges Tuesday, The Associated Press reported.
The notices of claim describe the incident as a “nightmare” that ruined their reputations and threatened their livelihoods of selling CBD, the extract of hemp plants which does not have an intoxicating effect on users. The filing, while not a lawsuit, could evolve into one, according to the newswire. Field tests of the seized plants tested positive for marijuana, but Oren Levy alleges that police ignored other lab tests and paperwork which showed that the plants were hemp. He says legal fees and the loss of the plants cost him about $40,000, AP reported. The brothers are asking for $10 million.
“What they did is completely illegal, and these are the people we have to trust to keep us safe?” Oren Levy said, according to the AP.
Read the entire article here at: thehill.com
(12/10/19 -- Inside Sources)
Traffic Cops Set Another Revenue Trap
Drivers passing through a rural stretch of North Carolina might be seeing red in their rear-view mirrors this holiday season, now that Robeson County sheriff’s deputies have an incentive to pursue green in the form of seized cash. Following a 17-year pause, the county rejoined a federal program on Nov. 21 that has been a moneymaker for years in other jurisdictions.
With the Robeson County Sheriff’s Department back on board, every vehicle at the crossroads of Interstate 95 and Interstate 74 will be a potential ATM for police perks. That’s about 50,000 new revenue opportunities per day. The partnership will allow task force members to seize and keep the property they find during traffic stops, even if they never charge the drivers with a crime. Federal prosecutors will need to meet only the lower burden of proof that applies in civil matters.
And because the cases are civil rather than criminal, citizens who fight back will have no right to a government-appointed attorney. They must fund their own defenses. Most victims just walk away, especially when attorneys’ fees outweigh the value of the property in question. Policing for Profit, a 2015 report from the Institute for Justice, found that 88 percent of federal seizures never make it before a judge. North Carolina specifically prohibits the heavy-handed police tactic, called civil forfeiture.
Read the entire article here at: insidesources.com
(12/10/19 -- northjersey.com)
New Jersey may make it harder for police to keep property they take from you
New Jersey wants to make it more difficult for police and prosecutors to keep cash and property seized from people they suspect used the property in a crime. Some experts, however, don't think the new legislation will fully solve the problem, amid a system that creates a perverse incentive for police to collect proceeds to fund their departments. Sponsors, meanwhile, say they are open to suggestions and that the bill will improve upon New Jersey's status quo.
The Legislature is considering a bill that says a person would have to be convicted of a crime before prosecutors can take ownership of property they say is tied to that crime, if it’s less than $1,000 in cash or property worth less than $10,000. The bill does not apply to illegally obtained firearms and gambling devices, like a slot machine, certain drugs and untaxed tobacco products, among others.
A Senate committee voted Monday to advance the bill. Members previously passed an Assembly version of the bill, but they will have to approve an amended version, which lowered the property threshold from $25,000 to $10,000 and changed the burden of proof needed to show the property is connected to a crime.
Read the entire article here at: northjersey.com
(12/6/19 -- Fox 59)
Columbus narcotics investigation yields 12 arrests, seizure of drugs and guns
The Joint Narcotics Enforcement Team (JNET) of the Bartholomew County Sheriff’s Office announced the arrest of twelve people after a multi-agency narcotics investigation. Officials said a search warrant was served Thursday night by local law enforcement officers at a Columbus residence that yielded a large amount of drugs, guns and money. According to police, officers from the Columbus Police Department SWAT Team served a warrant at the 2100 block of California St. after receiving information that the residence contained narcotics and several firearms.
Read the entire article here at: fox59.com
(12/6/19 -- Michigan Live)
Former Great Lakes Coast Guard cutter sold at auction for $80K
A retired U.S. Coast Guard cutter that was seized by U.S. marshals over unpaid bills earlier this year was auctioned off for $80,000 this week in Alabama to a firm that bills itself as a scrap recycling leader. This doesn’t necessarily spell doom for the Bramble, a vintage cutter who spent years breaking ice and cruising the Great Lakes. Before that, her Coast Guard crew was present for the first test of an atomic bomb’s effect on ships at Bikini Island in 1947, and was later part of the famous 1957 Northwest Passage trip.
The winning bidder, Modern American Recycling Services, told the Port Huron Times Herald in an interview that they hope to be able to use the Bramble as part of its fleet, but that ultimately the Bramble’s fate will rest on economic factors.
Read the entire article here at: mlive.com
(12/6/19 -- Myrtle Beach Online)
Horry County judge reaffirms SC police seizure decision
An Horry County judge declined to change his ruling that called the South Carolina civil forfeiture law unconstitutional. The law allows police to take money and other items from drug cases.
Read the entire article here at: myrtlebeachonline.com
(12/4/19 -- Washington Examiner)
Police take girl's birthday cash and stick mother with fees
Miladis Salgado should have been happy when federal agents returned $15,000 in cash seized from her Miami home two years earlier. But the government did not relent out of kindness or to correct a wrong. The Drug Enforcement Agency had more sinister motives. Prosecutors knew Salgado had done nothing wrong. The lead agent in the case had admitted lack of evidence connecting her to any crime following a botched raid on May 11, 2015.
Salgado had returned from work that day to find her house in disarray. Acting on incorrect information that her estranged husband was dealing drugs, agents had raided her property and torn through her cabinets and drawers. They found nothing related to drugs in the raid. Her estranged husband was not dealing drugs. He owned a garment sales company. But officers found something they wanted more hidden in a shoebox in the master closet: cash. She was saving the cash for her children, and the total included gifts from relatives for her daughter’s then-upcoming quinceañera celebration. Prosecutors confirmed these facts but didn’t care. They withheld the money, month after month, ruining the 15th birthday party and causing countless sleepless nights.
Then, on the eve of near-certain defeat for the government in court, prosecutors finally handed back her life savings. The move had to do with reforms passed by Congress in 2000, requiring law enforcement agencies to pay attorneys’ fees to anyone who challenges a civil forfeiture in court and wins. Prosecutors don’t like being left with the tab, so they devised a workaround. They hold seized assets as long as possible. Then, when the court is finally about to rule against them, agents return the money “voluntarily” to rob citizens of the formal judgment they need for automatic fee recovery.
Read the entire article here at: washingtonexaminer.com
(12/4/19 -- AL.Com)
Alabama Supreme Court intervenes in Mobile tow truck controversy
Alabama’s Supreme Court ordered a stop Monday to legal proceedings in a controversial case that saw a small Mobile towing business obtain a temporary restraining order against the city police department and District Attorney’s office. SOS Towing had asked a judge for a restraining order to force the DA’s office and Mobile Police Department to surrender four of its tow trucks that had previously been seized under civil asset forfeiture laws in connection with an insurance fraud case against the owners of the company.
Mobile Circuit Court Judge Wesley Pipes, who said in court the criminal case against company was weak, ordered the trucks be given back to the owners on Nov. 25. The DA’s office immediately appealed to the Alabama Supreme Court, which ordered a stop to the case pending its decision on the restraining order appeal, according to Alabama Supreme Court documents. It’s not yet clear when that decision will be made.
The order from the highest court in Alabama means SOS Towing will be allowed to keep the trucks but the Circuit Court cannot make any decision on the preliminary injunction sought by the towing company against the police department and the DA. The injunction would have permanently protected the trucks until the criminal case had been decided.
Read the entire article here at: al.com
(12/3/19 -- Fox News)
Authorities seize 500K pot vapes in 2 years in vaping crackdown
From New York City to Nebraska farm country to California, authorities have seized at least 510,000 marijuana vape cartridges and arrested more than 120 people in the past two years, according to an Associated Press tally derived from interviews, court records, news accounts and official releases.
A Wisconsin mother, her two adult sons and five other people were charged this fall in what investigators describe as a black-market manufacturing operation that churned out thousands of cartridges a day packed with THC, the cannabis chemical that causes a high. In neighboring Minnesota, authorities said they found nearly 77,000 illicit pot cartridges in a man’s suburban Minneapolis home and car in September.
Read the entire article here at: foxbusiness.com
(7/19/19 -- Iosco County News-Herald)
Report: Michigan police kept $15 million taken mostly from small seizures in 2018
Michigan police used civil asset forfeiture to seize $15 million worth of property and cash from more than 6,000 people in 2018, according to a report from Michigan State Police. State Police detailed $13.4 million in cash seized and spent supplementing their budgets, according to the report.
Michigan adopted a civil asset forfeiture law in 1978 that allowed law enforcement to deprive criminals of profits gained through illegal activity. Critics say the practice often tramples on the property rights of low-level drug users who have little income. According to the State Police report, property was seized from more than 6,000 persons in Michigan in 2018. Of these 6,000 individuals, only 2,810 were convicted of the crime for which the property was seized. The agency retained $7.6 million worth of items, sold $3 million worth, and $256,000 was “not answered.” Police seized property from 25 people without explaining the reason for the seizure.
Jarrett Skorup, director of marketing and communications for the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, said the main concern with asset forfeiture is the more than 500 people who had "assets taken, seized, and not even charged with any criminal activity.”
Read the entire article here at: iosconews.com
(7/16/19 -- Filter)
How Oklahoma’s Top Prosecutors Gang Up Against Reform
Conservative district attorneys often seem like they are at one-on-one political war with their progressive challengers. But according to a former DA candidate in Oklahoma, the state’s top prosecutors all coordinate with each other in an attempt to make sure that the “right” candidates take office. Last year, Cory Williams, a former state legislator, vied to become the next DA for Payne and Logan counties. His reform platform included downgrading more felony charges to misdemeanors, curbing cash bail, expanding diversion and drug treatment, and releasing data about racial disparities in the system.
Incumbent DA Laura Austin Thomas was most displeased by his notion that anything needed to change, stating, “Criminal justice reform is a very fun and nice and popular political soundbite, but a lot of it’s empty, empty words. The district attorney’s office can’t continue to be the dumping ground for it.”
Now that the race is over, with DA Austin Thomas taking 55.8 percent of the vote in November 2018, Williams has cried foul. He told Oklahoma Watch this month that he believes the 27-strong Oklahoma District Attorneys Association “has meetings with regards to political races,” and that “they have a coordinated effort between the [DA Council] and the association whenever it comes to get[ting] people elected and messaging.” The DA Council is a state government agency, whereas the DA Association is organized as a Section 501(c)(6) nonprofit. A state agency is not permitted to engage in political activities, whereas a 501(c)(6) nonprofit can spend unlimited amounts on political lobbying. The two organizations share the same business address, meet one after another in the same space, and even share an executive director: Trent Baggett, whose Twitter account has boasted, for example, of a store having to forfeit its “drug paraphernalia” water pipes without any conviction.
Read the entire article here at: filtermag.org
(7/12/19 -- News 5 Cleveland)
Kentucky man suing government for taking truck at the border in civil forfeiture case
Gerardo Serrano lives in rural Kentucky for peace and quiet. However, a story involving his truck and a trip across the U.S.- Mexico border suddenly made his life a bit more complicated. "I love my country, but if we have policies like this, forget it. I can't live in a place like this," Serrano says. It all started when Serrano decided to visit his cousin in Mexico. He got in his truck and drove down to Texas. As he reached the border, he took out his phone to snap a couple photos. "A border patrol agent walks by, and so I got his picture," Serrano recalls.
What happened next completely took him by surprise. "He opens the door, unlocks my seat belt, and yanks me out of the truck, like some kind of rag doll," he says. "I said, 'Hey listen, I'm an American. You can't do that. I have rights.’" The border agent asked for his phone, but when he refused to give up his passcode, he was suddenly surrounded by five patrol agents searching his truck. "There's a guy that yells out, ‘We got him,’ and he puts his hand out and there was my magazine with five bullets in it."
Read the entire article here at: news5cleveland.com
(7/10/19 -- Big Island Now)
DFPH: ‘Veto Ensures Continuation of One of US’s Worst Forfeiture Laws
Hawai‘i Gov. David Ige vetoed HB748 on July 9, 2019. The measure would have reformed the controversial civil asset forfeiture program, a press release from the Drug Policy Forum of Hawaiʻi (DFPH) said. Despite concerted push back from the community, media and the Legislature, the self-interested lobbying of law enforcement prevailed over justice, according to the press release.
Hawai‘i now fails to join at least 18 states that have strengthened due process in requiring that an actual criminal conviction be obtained before some or all forfeitures can be completed. DPFH Board President Nikos Leverenz said: “Gov. Ige’s veto shows a troubling disregard of the findings of State Auditor and the reasoned judgement of the Legislature. Over the past 30 years, due process of law has been turned on its head to facilitate revenue streams that stand outside of any meaningful oversight. This veto comes at a time when the conduct and character of those charged with enforcing state laws have been called into serious question by federal authorities. Hawai‘i deserves leadership that’s willing to look at the facts before it, admit mistakes that have been made and then take necessary corrective measures. Today’s action by the governor ensures that Hawai‘i will continue to have one of the worst asset forfeiture laws in the nation. The Legislature should revisit reform next year.”
Read the entire article here at: bigislandnow.com
(7/9/19 -- Honolulu Civil Beat)
Ige Vetoes Reform Of Hawaii’s Civil Asset Forfeiture Program
Gov. David Ige followed through with his plan to veto a proposal that would have reformed Hawaii’s often criticized civil asset forfeiture program. Critics have said that the program is rife with abuses, but Ige said Hawaii’s program already has safeguards against abuse. He said the state Attorney General’s Office reviews each civil forfeiture case, and even rejects some they don’t believe are appropriate.
Read the entire article here at: civilbeat.org
(7/8/19 -- The Rolla Daily News)
House Special Committee to examine racial profiling, civil asset forfeiture in Missouri
State Rep. Shamed Dogan announced today that his Special Committee on Criminal Justice will hold public hearings in July and August to thoroughly examine the issues of racial profiling and civil asset forfeiture. Dogan, who chairs the committee, said the committee will hold public hearings July 24 in St. Louis and August 1 in Kansas City. Dogan said he plans for the hearings to serve as a forum for all stakeholders involved in these issues to provide their honest opinions. He hopes to receive input from law enforcement, community leaders, prosecutors, and local elected officials, as well as the public. He is encouraging all interested parties to attend so they can help the committee develop effective legislative reforms.
Dogan said the committee will focus its fact finding efforts to examine the 2018 Vehicle Stops Report showing the largest racial disparity in vehicle stops in Missouri history — in which African-Americans were shown to be 91% more likely to be stopped than whites — as well as the report from Auditor Galloway showing that $9.1 million in cash and property was seized through the use of civil asset forfeiture in 2018 compared to $7.1 million in 2017, in light of the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Timbs v. Indiana restricting the use of forfeiture. “The numbers released by Attorney General Schmitt and Auditor Galloway are concerning and a true call to action for our committee and our legislature. It’s imperative that we seek solutions to help better protect Missourians’ 4th Amendment rights while also upholding law enforcement’s responsibility to protect public safety,” said Dogan, R-Ballwin.
Read the entire article here at: therolladailynews.com
(7/6/19 -- Wichita Eagle)
Asset forfeiture law needs reform in Kansas
Kansas has one of the worst asset forfeiture laws in the nation. The Kansas Legislature had the opportunity to fix the problems this session but didn’t. Kansas’ forfeiture law is flawed because it stacks the deck in favor of the government. It’s up to the property owner to prove their innocence in court. Another critical flaw in Kansas’ forfeiture law is that a jury of your peers never gets to hear the case, only a judge. The right to a jury trial is fundamental. It’s so important that the Kansas and the U.S. Constitutions include it in their respective Bills of Rights. The jury trial is an important component of checks and balances and it allows citizens to participate in the judicial process. Finally, by putting the case in a jury’s hands, instead of a judge’s, the government would need to convince more than just one person they’re right, which offers more accountability and is fairer.
Read the entire article here at: kansas.com
(7/6/19 -- Tyler Morning Telegraph)
Texas police can seize money and property with little transparency. So the Texas Tribune got the data and analyzed it.
In January 2016, Houston police took $955 from a man they said was a gang member with a criminal history because they suspected he was selling painkillers found in his car during a traffic stop. When prosecutors discovered he had a valid prescription for the drugs, they dropped the possession charge. But the man’s money still went into the coffers of the police department and the local prosecutor.
A few months later near the U.S.-Mexico border, a Webb County sheriff’s deputy pulled over a southbound car that Border Patrol agents had flagged for having hidden compartments. There was nothing in the compartments, but because deputies suspected it was tied to drug trafficking, they still seized the 2007 Nissan Altima. The driver wasn’t charged with a crime. The seizures highlight the controversial but complicated nature of a common policing practice called civil asset forfeiture, where law enforcement agencies can take and keep a person’s cash and property without charging the person with a crime. Instead, the government sues the property itself in civil court — where property owners have no right to a court-appointed lawyer — leading to oddly-named lawsuits like The State of Texas v. one 2005 Ford Mustang.
The Texas Tribune pored over thousands of pages of court records to shine a light on how asset forfeiture is used by law enforcement agencies in four Texas counties: Harris County, the state’s most populous and home to Houston; Smith County in East Texas; Reeves County in West Texas, which seized hundreds of thousands of dollars of suspected drug money hidden in cars being hauled by tractor-trailers; and Webb County on the border, where many seizures came from traffic stops on the southbound lanes of Interstate 35 heading toward Mexico.
Read the entire article here at: tylerpaper.com
(7/5/19 -- American Conservative)
Mayor Pete Buttigieg’s Friendly Police Fantasy
In June’s Democratic presidential candidate debate, South Bend, Indiana, mayor Pete Buttigieg said he is “determined to bring about a day when” any driver, white or black, has a “a feeling not of fear but of safety” when a police officer approaches them. Police abuses are a major issue for Democratic candidates and may derail Buttigieg’s campaign after a recent South Bend police shooting. But sensitivity training or re-education classes will not solve the real problem: politicians have given police so much power that citizens naturally fear them.
Forfeiture laws give police sweeping arbitrary power over Americans’ wallets, cars, and homes. Indiana Solicitor General Thomas Fisher told the Supreme Court in 2018 that the government is entitled to confiscate cars that exceed speed limits by five miles per hour—a standard that would justify seizing most vehicles. Between 2001 and 2014, lawmen seized more than $2.5 billion in cash from 60,000 travelers on the nation’s highways—with no criminal charges in the vast majority of cases, the Washington Post reported.
Police have been trained to confiscate private property of drivers by absurdly claiming that “trash on the floor of a vehicle, abundant energy drinks or air fresheners hanging from rearview mirrors” are signs of criminal activity. Blacks and Hispanics have been victimized far more often by such laws. The Fourth Amendment prohibits unreasonable, warrantless searches of American citizens. But police have gutted that constitutional right with dogs that will give them a positive alert almost any time they seek a pretext to forcibly search someone’s vehicle. The fact that canines are sometimes trained to give false alerts is irrelevant as long as the government always wins. Canine alerts to currency are routinely used to justify seizures even though most U.S. currency has trace amounts of drug contamination.
Read the entire article here at: theamericanconservative.com
(7/3/19 -- Honolulu Civil Beat)
Legislative Leaders Counting Votes In Case They Try To Override Vetoes
The Legislature is considering a special session to override Gov. David Ige’s possible vetoes of at least 11 measures, according to memos circulated to lawmakers this week. The bills mentioned in a Senate memo include proposals to reform Hawaii’s asset forfeiture programs, allow the interisland transportation of medical cannabis, increase the annual cap on tax credits for the film industry and tax Hawaii’s real estate investment trusts.
Read the entire article here at: civilbeat.org
(7/2/19 -- Institute For Justice)
Trump Signs Bill To Protect Small-Business Owners From IRS Seizures
On Monday, President Donald Trump signed a bill into law that stops the Internal Revenue Service from raiding the bank accounts of small-business owners. The Clyde-Hirsch-Sowers RESPECT Act, part of the Taxpayer First Act (H.R. 3151) that Congress passed unanimously, is named after Institute for Justice clients Jeff Hirsch and Randy Sowers, two victims of the IRS’s aggressive seizures for so-called “structuring.” Through structuring laws, the IRS routinely confiscated cash from ordinary Americans simply because they frequently deposited or withdrew cash in amounts under $10,000. And by using civil forfeiture, the IRS can keep that money without ever filing criminal charges.
“With the Clyde-Hirsch-Sowers RESPECT Act now law, innocent entrepreneurs will no longer have to fear forfeiting their cash to the IRS, simply over how they handled their money,” said Institute for Justice Senior Attorney Darpana Sheth, who heads IJ’s National Initiative to End Forfeiture Abuse. “Seizing for structuring was one of the most abusive forms of civil forfeiture and we’re glad to see it go.”
Read the entire article here at: ij.org
(7/3/19 -- HPPR)
New Website Intended To Increase Transparency Around Asset Forfeiture In Kansas
A new website tracking property seizures by Kansas law enforcement went live on Monday. The Kansas Bureau of Investigations established the Kansas Asset Seizure and Forfeiture Repository as part of a 2018 law aimed at increasing transparency around the tool known as civil asset forfeiture. Property that police think is connected to a crime — such as illegal gambling, or the sale of drugs — can be confiscated, whether or not a conviction is made. The new law requires all law enforcement agencies in Kansas to submit data each time an asset is seized.
Read the entire article here at: hppr.org
(7/1/19 -- Patheos)
Am I Using a Purity Test on Joe Biden?
Some in the comments of my post on Joe Biden and his rejection of Brown v Board of Education of establishing a purity test that no candidate can meet and thereby rejecting viable candidates and undermining those who are running against Trump. Is that true? No, and let me explain why.
His sponsorship and/or strong advocacy of a series of bills that helped create and make much worse of our mass incarceration problem that has destroyed millions of lives and families. These bills include the Comprehensive Crime Control Act of 1984, which created mandatory minimum sentence for drug offenses; the 1986 Anti-Drug Abuse Act, which created the vastly different sentences for crack offenses than for regular cocaine offenses; and the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994, which made the 1984 act even more harsh and continued the racial bias of the previous two laws.
One of the truly appalling parts of the 1984 Comprehensive Crime Control Act was that it changed the standard for civil asset forfeiture and created one of the most blatant constitutional violations imaginable. Until then, the government could only seize property if the defendant was found guilty in the case. This act changed that, allowing the government to seize property not only when someone is not found guilty bit even if they were never even charged. And once the property is seized, the burden of proof was on the person who property was taken to prove that it wasn’t gained through or used in the commission of a crime. It’s really hard to imagine a more blatant violation of the Bill of Rights.
Read the entire article here at: patheos.com
(7/1/19 -- The Indiana Lawyer)
Civil forfeiture case back before Indiana justices on SCOTUS remand
For the third time in three years, Marion resident Tyson Timbs took his case before a Supreme Court. The first time was in 2017, when the Indiana Supreme Court reversed the denial of the state’s forfeiture action against Timbs’ $40,000 Land Rover. The vehicle was seized after Timbs was arrested for selling heroin to an undercover officer. The next time was in 2018, when Timbs went all the way to United States Supreme Court. There, he got a partial victory when the federal justices unanimously held that the Eighth Amendment’s Excessive Fines Clause — which Timbs had used to challenge the forfeiture of his vehicle — applies to the states. But SCOTUS didn’t rule on how the Excessive Fines Clause should apply to civil in rem forfeitures. That issue was the heart of arguments heard before the Indiana Supreme Court again on Friday.
Indiana Solicitor General Thomas M. Fisher continued to advocate for the forfeiture action during Friday’s arguments, telling the state justices the Rover was rightfully seized as an instrumentality of Timbs’ crime. But Samuel Gedge, an attorney with the Virginia-based Institute for Justice, which is representing Timbs, said the Rover was only incidentally related to the crimes. Friday’s arguments focused on two main themes: instrumentalities of crimes, and the proportionality of forfeitures.
Read the entire article here at: theindianalawyer.com
(6/28/19 -- The Maui News)
The State of Aloha
You’d think we would have left the Middle Ages behind us by now. And yet, out of this odd time came a principle that still haunts our courts of law. Courts in 11th-century England held that when a severe crime like murder or other killings were committed, not only would the perpetrator of the crime be punished (usually with death), but the objects that helped cause the death were blamed and confiscated by the government. The theory was based on the superstition that the object itself was evil. As a result, the government confiscated property from offenders.
After decades of expansive powers to the police across the country, reform is starting to solidify. This year, the Legislature passed a bill that put a modest limit on forfeiture powers. It would require a criminal conviction for a felony offense before the government could take property. And even then the money wouldn’t be split between the police and the county. All of it would go to the general fund and stay out of police coffers. Prosecutors and police departments rose up against this bill. They raised the old Reaganite justification for the laws: It’s tough on crime (even when the prosecution doesn’t bring a crime) and raises money for law enforcement. The Legislature was not convinced.
The Legislature found that “civil asset forfeiture frequently leaves innocent citizens deprived of personal property without having ever been charged or convicted of any crime. This amounts to government-sponsored theft.” But things have hit a snag this week. Gov. David Ige announced that he plans to veto this modest reform. Siding with law enforcement, Ige announced that civil forfeiture is an effective and critical law enforcement tool. He said he was “proud of our law enforcement” and announced that “we don’t see the kind of abuse that occurs in other states.” In 2018, however, an audit revealed that more than a quarter of seized property were closed without a criminal conviction.
Read the entire article here at: mauinews.com
(6/27/19 -- The Indiana Lawyer)
Divided Supreme Court upholds civil forfeiture reimbursement of law enforcement
The practice of diverting civil forfeiture proceeds away from the Common School Fund to reimburse law enforcement costs is constitutional under Article 8, Section 2 of the Indiana Constitution, the Indiana Supreme Court has ruled, answering the longstanding question of whether the constitution requires all forfeiture proceeds to go to the Common School Fund.
Only two justices, Mark Massa and Christopher Goff, concurred fully with the court’s 54-page opinion, handed down Thursday in Jeana M. Horner, et al. v. Terry R. Curry, et al., 18S-PL-333. Chief Justice Loretta Rush and Justice Geoffrey Slaughter each wrote separately, while Justice Steven David partially joined Rush’s separate opinion. Rush was the only member of the court to dissent from a portion of the 38-page majority opinion.
Read the entire article here at: theindianalawyer.com
(6/27/19 -- The Detroit News)
Suit claims documents withheld in Macomb prosecutor probe
An activist’s Freedom Of Information Act lawsuit alleges the Michigan State Police and state Attorney General’s Office are withholding public documents — including two additional search warrants — that have been issued in the ongoing probe of spending by Macomb County Prosecutor Eric Smith. mith, whose forfeiture fund accounts have come under scrutiny, has said the State Police gave him the go-ahead to distribute copies of search warrants executed last month at his Macomb County offices and Macomb Township home because it would not interfere with the probe.
But Robert Davis believes officials deliberately excluded affidavits that accompany such search warrants and lay out potential crimes that may have been committed. Davis, who has requested the documents from both the State Police and Attorney General’s office, said he has also talked with court officials who revealed that instead of the two known search warrants, a total of four were provided to state police.
“According to officials at 54B (District Court in) East Lansing, the Michigan State Police has executed at least four search warrants in the criminal investigation of Macomb County Prosecutor Eric Smith,” said Davis of Highland Park. “I believe these are all public records that should be provided. His own press release explaining why he was releasing two of them (search warrants) is evidence enough that everything else should be available.”
Read the entire article here at: detroitnews.com
(6/26/19 -- TechDirt)
Data From Court Documents Shows Texas Law Enforcement Playing Small-Ball Forfeiture, Not Doing Much To Stop Drug Trafficking
Journalists digging into the numbers behind vague forfeiture reports have uncovered more unsurprising details about the practice. Since the state of Texas doesn't require reporting of anything more than overall profits from forfeitures, reporters at the Texas Tribune did it the hard way. Reading through thousands of pages of court filings, the paper was able to tease out the granular detail law enforcement agencies don't like the public seeing.
What the Texas Tribune uncovered is exactly the reasons asset forfeiture is both problematic and incredibly popular with law enforcement agencies. Cop shop PR officers may hold press conferences to announce things like the $1.2 million in cash seized from a traffic stop, they're very quiet about the day-to-day work of forfeiture. The reality is the $50 million a year taken through forfeiture in the state of Texas is composed of hundreds of very small cash seizures.
Read the entire article here at: techdirt.com
(6/26/19 -- Reason)
Hawaii Governor Plans to Veto Asset Forfeiture Reform Bill, Claiming Abuses Don't Occur
Hawaii Gov. David Ige, a Democrat, announced Monday he intends to veto H.B. 748, a bill that would enact sweeping reforms to the state's civil forfeiture laws, claiming "safeguards presently exist in Hawaii's asset forfeiture statutes that prevent the abuses cited in the bill." Honolulu Civil Beat reports that Ige, asked why he planned on vetoing the bill, said he's "proud of our law enforcement. We don't see the kind of abuse that occurs in other states."
Unfortunately, the Aloha Spirit, although it is enshrined in Hawaii's laws, is not a substitute for actual government accountability. The Hawaii State Auditor released a report last year finding the state's asset forfeiture program doesn't properly track what happens to property seized from people or properly spend those funds. In fact, the state misallocated $2 million in forfeiture revenues, Honolulu Civil Beat reported. According to the auditor's report, Hawaii law enforcement seized $11.5 million in property and cash between 2006 and 2015. A quarter of all asset forfeitures in 2015 in Hawaii were closed with no criminal charges.
Hawaii newspapers have also covered the sort of abusive asset forfeiture cases that Ige claims do not exist. For example, the Honolulu Star-Advertiser reported on the case of Darrell Teixeira, whose 2000 Honda Accord was seized by police under suspicion that an ex-boyfriend of Teixeira's daughter took the car and broken into an SUV. The ex-boyfriend was never charged with a crime, nor were Teixeira or his daughter ever implicated. Teixeira had a pretty good alibi. He was in prison at the time. Nevertheless, the car was auctioned off.
Read the entire article here at: reason.com
(6/26/19 -- Legal Insurrection)
FBI Uses Puppies to Justify Civil Asset Forfeiture
The one area everyone on the political spectrum agrees on? Civil asset forfeiture sucks. On Tuesday, the FBI tweeted out a video of adorable puppies, but it used those puppies to justify civil asset forfeiture laws. Literally: If you hate civil asset forfeiture, you hate puppies. You don’t hate puppies, do you!?
Give me a break. You mean the FBI has no other resources or ways to rescue and rehabilitate these poor dogs? Civil forfeiture remains a controversial issue in America since it’s “a process by which the government can take and sell your property without ever convicting, or even charging, you with a crime.” The procedures are civil, which means defendants do not receive the same protections given to criminal defendants. Even if you’re found not guilty of a crime, it does not mean the government will give you back your property.
Back in 2017, the Department of Justice under Jeff Sessions expanded its civil asset forfeiture program even in states that banned the practice. Like the FBI, Sessions stressed that these funds that allegedly “were once used to take lives are now being used to save lives.” Sessions allowed local authorities to bypass state laws by using a practice called “adoption,” which means those authorities can give “seized assets to the federal government instead of returning them to their owners.”
Read the entire article here at: legalinsurrection.com
(6/25/19 -- Institute For Justice)
House Votes To Defund Federal Forfeiture Abuse
Today, the U.S. House of Representatives voted to defund a notorious federal forfeiture program when it passed a “minibus” appropriations bill (H.R. 3055) to finance the Justice Department and other federal agencies. Organized by the Institute for Justice, a bipartisan coalition of two dozen organizations, including the American Conservative Union, the ACLU, Heritage Action for America, the Leadership Conference, and the NAACP, had praised the House for unanimously approving an amendment to the minibus that would cut off funding to the so-called “adoption” program.
Under adoption, state and local law enforcement can seize property without filing criminal charges, and then transfer the seized property to federal prosecutors for forfeiture under federal law. Adoptive seizures can occur even if they would circumvent safeguards that were enacted by state legislatures to protect property owners from civil forfeiture. Worse, local and state agencies can collect up to 80 percent of the forfeiture proceeds, giving them a perverse financial incentive to police for profit. Between 2000 and 2016, the Justice Department distributed nearly $1 billion in federal-adoption funds to police and prosecutors nationwide. “Civil forfeiture is one of the greatest threats to private property rights,” said Institute for Justice Senior Attorney Darpana Sheth, who heads IJ’s National Initiative to End Forfeiture Abuse. “It’s encouraging to see hundreds of representatives and numerous groups that span the ideological spectrum come together to oppose this abuse of power. The House vote is a welcome first step to rolling back federal forfeiture laws and we urge the Senate to pass the amendment.”
In January 2015, then-U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder sharply curtailed adoptive forfeitures. Unfortunately, those limits were later repealed by former U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions, as part of a new policy directive to “increase forfeitures” in July 2017. To defund the adoption program, Reps. Tim Walberg (R-MI), Bobby Rush (D-IL), Jamie Raskin (D-MD), Tony Cardenas (D-CA), Tom McClintock (R-CA), Justin Amash (R-MI), and Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI) sponsored an amendment to H.R. 3055 that was unanimously adopted last week. If enacted, their amendment effectively end adoptive seizures and forfeitures through the next fiscal year.
Read the entire article here at: ij.org
(6/25/19 -- Patheos)
How Biden is Responsible for the Appalling Civil Asset Forfeiture Laws
The Foundation for Economic Education has a long expose of the history of civil asset forfeiture in this country and it points a finger directly at Joe Biden for the law that allows the government to seize cash and property from someone they think got it through illegal activities without even bothering to charge them with the crime. Civil asset forfeiture first was authorized in the 1970s, but the law then required that the owner of the property be tried and convicted for the crime. Then Biden wrote legislation that eliminated that requirement.
But Meese, Weld, and everyone else seemed to agree that forfeiture laws didn’t go nearly far enough. By requiring an indictment, the government still had to meet some standard of reasonable guilt before seizing property, which allowed far too many criminals that law enforcement knew to be guilty (but couldn’t build a case against) to keep their ill-gotten gains. The Comprehensive Forfeiture Act fixed all of these problems. The new bill was introduced by Senator Joe Biden in 1983 and it was signed into law the next year. With this law, federal agents had nearly unlimited powers to seize assets from private citizens. Now the government only needed to find a way to let local and state police join the party.
This came with the 1984 Comprehensive Crime Control Act. In addition to a slew of new powers for prosecutors, the burden of proof for asset seizure was lowered once again (agents had to only believe that what they were seizing was equal in value to money believed to have been purchased from drug sales). More significantly, the bill started the “equitable sharing” program that allowed local and state law enforcement to retain up to 80 percent of the assets seized.
Read the entire article here at: patheos.com
(6/25/19 -- Big Island Now)
Drug Policy Forum Leader Criticizes Veto of Civil Asset Forfeiture Program
Drug Policy Forum of Hawaiʻi Executive Director Carl Bergquist issued a statement following Gov. David Ige’s veto list announcement on June 24, 2019. “In an incredibly surprising and disappointing move, Gov. David Ige today included HB748, a modest reform of the controversial civil asset forfeiture program, on his intent to veto list,” Berquist’s press release read. “Civil asset forfeiture allows law enforcement to seize and sell a person’s assets based on the mere suspicion that the property is connected an alleged crime (often related to drugs). This allows police, e.g. the Honolulu Police Department, to keep the money and pad their budgets outside the appropriation process. This upside-down version of due process has prompted at least 18 states to require that a criminal conviction be obtained before a forfeiture can be completed. HB748 would add Hawai’i to the growing list of states that require such a conviction. This is reason alone for the governor to reconsider his intent to veto—it would protect against any future abuse.
“At his press conference, however, the governor also appeared convinced that there was no past abuse of forfeiture in Hawai‘i, referencing an absence of mainland incidents here. Facts say otherwise. First, local media has highlighted the existence of such very incidents here as well. Second, the State Auditor’s report revealed all manner of problems with the forfeiture program that the Governor should consider before issuing a veto. Those issues relate to a lack of oversight, absence of administrative rules and lack of compliance with state law regarding how to use forfeiture proceeds. “The conviction requirement for civil asset forfeiture in HB748 is a common sense reform adopted around the country. It is a start to revamping a forfeiture program so reviled that it has been abolished altogether in three other states. States that have added the conviction requirement have not suffered any known problems. Indeed, like California, they have found that they must then add additional reforms to protect innocent property owners from local police cooperating with the federal government in order to circumvent the reformed state law.
Read the entire article here at: bigislandnow.com
(6/25/19 -- Pulitzer Center)
Pulitzer Center Grantees Spotlight Police Seizures in Texas and Beyond
“Civil asset forfeiture is an essential and integral tool in the criminal justice system,” said Harris County Assistant District Attorney Angela Beavers. But, said State Rep. Terry Canales, "there is a lot of bad" that comes from it. “I see a lot of abuse throughout the state,” Canales continued. “It can be a tool—and has its place in American jurisprudence—but we need reporting requirements, we need oversight, we need to see what [law enforcement] is doing.” Beavers and Canales spoke on a panel on June 20 hosted by The Texas Tribune and the Pulitzer Center focusing on how law enforcement agencies, cities, and counties use civil asset forfeiture and why many states are restricting the practice. Jolie McCullough, who moderated the conversation, was the lead writer for a Tribune and Pulitzer Center-supported investigation on asset forfeiture in Texas. Jacob Ryan, another panelist and a journalist with the Kentucky Center for Investigative Reporting, also contributed stories to “Taken,” the Pulitzer Center and the Tribune’s collaborative reporting effort.
Canales referred to the “lowest standard” of proof that is required of the state in taking one’s property. “There doesn’t have to be an underlying criminal offense, no conviction,” he said. Beavers incorrectly claimed the idea that the state is “policing for profit” is a “false narrative” and law enforcement should work at reversing this narrative. Canales outlined a few cases he has seen where there has been oversight on the part of the state, or where individuals’ property was wrongfully seized. He described the situation of a son, mother, and father whose motorcycle and pickup truck was wrongfully taken from them. There is “a hunger for money” on the part of the state, he said. “There are good actors, but the law is ripe for abuse...we’re in desperate need of reform.”
Read the entire article here at: pulitzercenter.org
(6/24/19 -- WMBF News)
South Carolina solicitors working on civil forfeiture reform
Five South Carolina solicitors are working to reform a proposed bill involving civil forfeiture. This comes after 80 state representatives signed a bill to reform civil asset forfeiture in February. Civil asset forfeiture is a law that allows police to take away money or items made from illegal operations and put it back into the police department. Last legislative season, lawmakers proposed a bill that would put an end to civil asset forfeiture. The proposed bill would allow law enforcement to only seize property with a criminal conviction.
“A prosecutor doesn’t usually draft laws. We just go out and deal with whatever they pass. This particular piece of legislation was so bad there was no working with it,” explained 15th Circuit Solicitor Jimmy Richardson. “There were a lot of holes and it didn’t fit South Carolina law at all.” The proposed bill was sparked by an investigation by the Greenville News. The investigation revealed South Carolina agencies seized more than $17 million in three years. In the past few years, thousands of dollars in cash, a mobile home and a TV all have been seized by Horry County agencies.
Currently in civil forfeiture, law enforcement has to prove there’s more than a 51% chance the money or items seized by police came from illegal drug sales. “The proposed changes would include going from a 51% standard or preponderance level to beyond a reasonable doubt level, which is for laments terms about 85% to 90%,” said Richardson. Another change would make it stricter for police to seize items during traffic stops. Richardson explained some departments were seizing money when only a small amount of drugs were found. “We won’t take money if it’s just associated with a small amount of marijuana or a small amount of cocaine,” he said. The five solicitors working on these proposed changes are meeting on Thursday in Columbia.
(6/22/19 -- Athens Banner-Herald)
Federal bill bears Athens man’s name
Federal legislation limiting the federal government’s ability to seize people’s assets appears headed for law, thanks in part to an Athens gun dealer. The bill would bar the Internal Revenue Service and other agencies from seizing assets without some reason to believe there was criminal wrongdoing beyond simply a pattern of deposits that seemed structured to avoid the $10,000 limit that triggers reports under the avoid a Bank Secrecy Act. In 2013, the IRS seized about $940,000 from Andrew Clyde, owner of the Atlanta Highway gun shop Clyde Armory. Clyde had regularly made cash deposits of just under $10,000 as he built up the balance. Clyde’s account was one of hundreds seized by the IRS for so-called “structuring.” Investigators ultimately found no criminal wrongdoing, a federal 2017 audit showed. But under the law, the government was still able to keep the money. Clyde didn’t make the sub-$10,000 deposits to avoid the reporting law, he said at the time, but because of his own insurance limit of $10,000 per individual deposit. His business had profited during the nationwide rush to buy guns, people fearful of new gun restrictions as Barack Obama began a second term as president.
Clyde challenged the seizure in court and got most of his money back; minus $100,000 in legal fees and $50,000 he agreed to pay the IRS to get them to stop. “It would have absolutely ruined me,” he said, if the IRS and the Department of Justice had been allowed to keep the money it took. He didn’t stop there, though. He complained to former Georgia U.S. Rep. Paul Broun about the practice, and later testified about it before Congress.
The Obama administration and the IRS stopped the kind of profiling that Clyde got caught up in, seizing assets based solely on what looked like a suspicious pattern of deposits. But now a bill bearing Clyde’s name will make it law instead of merely policy. The Clyde-Hirsch-Sowers RESPECT Act will make those limitations the law, along with the related Taxpayer Freedom Act.
Read the entire article here at: onlineathens.com
(6/20/19 -- Wall Street Journal)
New Queens District Attorney Stands to Inherit $80 Million Fund
When a new district attorney takes office in Queens next year, he or she will find something unusual: some $80 million in the bank. The money, known as asset-forfeiture funds, is a rare windfall for a New York City outer-borough prosecutors office. What also is uncommon, legal experts say, is that the office has spent so little of it.
In 2014, the Queens office was awarded $116 million as its share of HSBC Holdings PLC’s landmark $1.9 billion 2012 settlement related to allegations that Latin American drug cartels laundered money through the bank. HSBC has said it accepts responsibility for past mistakes and has worked to fix its financial controls. “What most people don’t know about the HSBC case is the Queens DA’s office played a huge role in developing that entire case,” said Duncan Levin, former chief of asset forfeiture at the Manhattan district attorney’s office. The Queens award was by far the settlement’s largest to a local agency.
Read the entire article here at: wsj.com
(6/20/19 -- Jamie raskin)
HOUSE APPROVES WALBERG, RASKIN AMENDMENT TO CURB CIVIL ASSET FORFEITURE ABUSE
The U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday unanimously approved a bipartisan amendment offered by Representatives Jamie Raskin (D-MD) and Tim Walberg (R-MI) that reins in the federal government’s power to seize private property without due process. The amendment prohibits funding for the Department of Justice to continue a practice known as adoptive seizures, a loophole that local law enforcement can use to circumvent state forfeiture laws. “I’m thrilled that the House unanimously passed this bipartisan amendment to close the adoptive seizures loophole,” said Rep. Raskin. “Reforming America’s civil asset forfeiture laws is a constitutional imperative that goes right to the heart of our Bill of Rights, and I look forward to advancing the FAIR Act with Congressman Walberg.” “For many years, I have worked in a bipartisan way to shine a light on civil asset forfeiture abuses,” said Rep. Walberg. “This amendment takes important steps to halt the practice of adoptive seizures, and it provides critical protections for all Americans and their right to due process under the Constitution. Ultimately, Congress must cement more comprehensive reforms into law, and I look forward to continuing my work with Congressman Raskin to advance the Fifth Amendment Integrity Restoration Act.”
Earlier this year, Walberg and Raskin introduced the Fifth Amendment Integrity Restoration Act (FAIR Act), a series of sweeping reforms to our nation’s civil asset forfeiture laws. The FAIR Act will raise the level of proof necessary for the federal government to seize property, reform the IRS structuring statute to protect innocent small business owners, and increase transparency and congressional oversight.
Read the entire article here at: raskin.house.gov
(6/20/19 -- WBTW)
Horry County Solicitor working on civil forfeiture reform
South Carolina lawmakers tried to pass sweeping changes to the state’s civil asset forfeiture law, but it stalled in the Senate. House Speaker Jay Lucas called on solicitors including Jimmy Richardson to join a committee to rewrite the statute when the legislative session picks back up in January.
Now, local law enforcement agencies can seize cash, cars, houses, or any property from suspects they believe may be involved in a crime. A newspaper investigation revealed South Carolina law enforcment agencies seized more than 17 million dollars in just three years. The investigation shows 20 percent of those who had items seized were never charged with a crime and another 5 percent were found not guilty. Local agencies retain 70 percent of that money to pay for equipment and training to fight the war on drugs. Solicitor Jimmy Richardson said he’s seen issues in smaller agencies.
“I think that everybody needs some oversight. I think there needs to be a standard way of doing all of it,” said Richardson. Under civil forfeiture, if an agency makes a seizure, they file a suit against the cash or property and the owner has to prove it’s not for or from illegal activity. State solicitors including Richardson are working to rewrite the statute making it a criminal asset forfeiture which would shift the burden of proof to beyond a reasonable doubt. Richardson said charges would be filed and forfeiture would be based on conviction.
Read the entire article here at: wbtw.com
(6/20/19 -- Texas Tribune)
A conversation on police seizures in Texas and beyond
Join us for a conversation about how law enforcement agencies, cities and counties use civil asset forfeiture and why many states are restricting the practice. Law enforcement calls asset forfeiture a vital tool for seizing ill-gotten gains from criminals, but reformers argue that it gives officials too much power to take citizens’ money and property without requiring proof of a crime. This panel features state Rep. Terry Canales, D-Edinburg; Harris County Assistant District Attorney Angela Beavers; and Jacob Ryan, a journalist with the Kentucky Center for Investigative Reporting, and will be moderated by Texas Tribune criminal justice reporter Jolie McCullough. Both Ryan and McCullough contributed stories to "Taken," a collaborative investigative reporting effort supported by the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting. McCullough was the lead writer for a Tribune investigation on asset forfeiture in Texas that published June 7.
Listen to the full discussion here at: texastribune.org
(6/19/19 -- Elko Daily Free Press)
Lawmakers fail to rein in forfeiture abuse, again
In the past three legislative sessions bills have been pushed to rein in the pernicious practice of civil asset forfeiture, which allows law enforcement agencies to seize cash, houses, cars and other property without a criminal conviction and keep the proceeds — a practice dubbed “policing for profit” by the Institute for Justice. In 2015 Nevada lawmakers did pass a bill that, as introduced, would have required proof of a criminal conviction or a plea deal before seizure of cash or property. By the time it was sent to the governor, who signed it, the conviction requirement was dropped. The law does say the seized property or money should be returned if charges are dropped or dismissed after a trial, but too often charges are never filed against anyone.
In 2017, as pointed out by Daniel Honchariw of the Nevada Policy Research Institute (NPRI) in an op-ed in the Las Vegas newspaper, another bill that would have required a criminal conviction or plea deal, as well as directing proceeds go to education rather than the law enforcement agency died in the Senate Judiciary Committee where state Sen. Nicole Cannizzaro was vice chair. Cannizzaro is a deputy district attorney in Clark County. Honchariw noted that Nevada district attorney offices earned more than $250,000 through civil forfeiture in 2016 alone, and the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department pulled in $1.9 million. That police department had awarded Cannizzaro a “Commendation and Certificate of Appreciation.”
In the session just ended, still another bill was introduced to curb civil asset forfeiture abuse. It passed the Assembly on a vote of 34-6, but, you guessed it, it died in Cannizzaro’s committee without a vote.
Read the entire article here at: elkodaily.com
(6/19/19 -- UPI)
U.S. open to negotiation over Wise Honest with North Korea
The United States and North Korea could be willing to negotiate an exchange of detained ships to resolve tensions following the U.S. seizure of the Wise Honest, according to a recent press report. Radio Free Asia reported officials at the U.S. State Department told South Korean presidential advisor Moon Chung-in the Trump administration is ready to enter "constructive" negotiations.
In May, North Korea accused the United States of violating international law following the confiscation of the North Korea-flagged ship, detained in Indonesia since 2018. After the ship was taken to American Samoa, North Korea's top envoy to the United Nations accused the United States of "sovereignty infringement."
Constructive negotiations could mean the United States is open to returning the Wise Honest to Pyongyang in return for the USS Pueblo, captured off the North Korea coast in 1968, according to Radio Free Asia.
Read the entire article here at: upi.com
(6/16/19 -- St Louis Post-Dispatch)
Despite reforms, burden still heavy on owners of seized property
A 2018 recreational vehicle, $500,000 in cash, a quarter and a red Bass Pro Shops baseball cap. These are just a few of the thousands of items that Illinois police agencies have seized over the past decade under state and federal laws known as civil asset forfeiture. The laws allow the seizure of property without a criminal charge being filed or a case being filed in court.
The value of the property seized has totaled hundreds of millions of dollars in property, cash, jewelry and real estate over the last eight years, according to an analysis of Illinois State Police data by the Midwest Center for Investigative Center. The analysis of data from three Midwest states collected under the Freedom of Information Act shows:
• Illinois police agencies seized more than $226 million in personal property, cash and real estate between July 1, 2010 and June 30, 2017.
• Indiana police agencies seized $3.4 million in cars, real estate and other property in the past three years. Agencies in Indiana weren’t required to report on the seizures until 2016.
• Iowa police agencies seized at least $24 million in cash, personal property and real estate between 2010 and 2017.
“The worst part of it is, statistics (show the) vast majority of forfeiture property in the state of Iowa and elsewhere, is forfeiture without anybody contesting,” said Dean Stowers, a Des Moines-based attorney who argued a 2018 case on civil asset forfeiture before the Iowa Supreme Court. He added, “Not because it was correct … often times hiring an attorney is more expensive than what’s at stake in the forfeiture.”
Read the entire article here at: stltoday.com
(6/18/19 -- Missouri Times)
Next Steps: Civil asset forfeiture reform
Measures to reform civil asset forfeiture procedures in Missouri didn’t quite make it through the General Assembly during the 2019 session, but already lawmakers are looking ahead at ways to change the practice. “What I would like to see is to get this thing through public hearings and debate and find out exactly where we stand, what kinds of violations may be happening, and what kinds of reforms may help Missouri,” Sen. Ed Emery told The Missouri Times. “There are a number of states that have already done reforms and a number of states that have looked at reforms, and we also may have some things to learn from those other states.”
While Missouri requires a criminal conviction or guilty plea for property to be civilly forfeited, law enforcement agencies can circumvent state law by participating in the federal equitable sharing program. In these instances, local agencies will request a case be transferred to federal investigators and will be able to share the seized assets with the federal government.
Missouri received about $126.7 million from the federal equitable sharing program — more than $9 million per year — between 2000 and 2013, according to data from the Institute for Justice. In contrast, Missouri averaged about $109,000 per year from 2010 to 2014 in forfeitures at the state level. From his own research, Emery said, “It might not be as big a state issue as it is a federal issue … but the state does benefit from federal abuse.”
Read the entire article here at: themissouritimes.com
(6/18/19 -- Tennessean)
Keep the momentum on criminal justice reform
This year, Tennessee took a major step toward improving our state’s criminal justice system. The changes, supported by lawmakers from both sides of the aisle and backed by Gov. Bill Lee, will help make our communities stronger and safer, while also extending a second chance to those with a criminal record who are ready to become productive members of society. Among the most significant changes, lawmakers did away with the misguided practice of suspending the driver's license of an individual who is unable to quickly pay off their traffic citations, fines and court fees. Now they will be able to work out a payment plan based on their financial situation and receive a restricted license in order to continue driving to work to pay off their debt.
Tennessee lawmakers also voted to eliminate expungement fees for certain convictions so those with a criminal record will no longer have a legal scarlet letter hanging around their necks that makes it more difficult to find work and housing. Other changes will encourage alternatives to sentencing for nonviolent offenders, so we are incarcerating only those who pose a truly serious threat to the safety of our communities.
Read the entire article here at: tennessean.com
(6/17/19 -- WND)
Congress takes aim at IRS cash confiscations
The U.S. Senate has voted to curtail the nearly unchecked ability of the Internal Revenue Service to confiscate cash from someone, make a few allegations but never file any charges and then keep the money. Called forfeiture, it’s been in the news lately in several egregious cases. The U.S. Supreme Court warned in an Ohio confiscation case earlier this year that states must follow the Constitution’s ban on excessive fines in such situations.
It is the Institute for Justice that is talking about the Senate’s approval of a bill adopted by the House that is being sent to President Trump for his signature. “The IRS used civil forfeiture to take hard-earned money from innocent small-business owners,” said Institute for Justice Senior Attorney Darpana Sheth, who heads IJ’s National Initiative to End Forfeiture Abuse. “With Congress so bitterly polarized, it’s encouraging to see hundreds of representatives stand together against this inherently abusive practice.” The Clyde-Hirsch-Sowers RESPECT Act would restrict forfeiture for currency “structuring” only when the funds in question are derived from an illegal source or used to conceal illegal activity.
It also would let property owners challenge a seizure at a prompt, post-seizure hearing. Previously, property owners targeted for structuring had to wait months or even years to present their case to a judge, IJ said. The bill is named partly for Institute for Justice clients Jeff Hirsch and Randy Sowers, two victims of the IRS’s aggressive seizures for so-called “structuring.” Through structuring laws, the IRS has routinely confiscated cash from ordinary Americans because they frequently deposited or withdrew cash in amounts under $10,000. And by using civil forfeiture, the IRS can keep the money without ever filing criminal charges, IJ noted.
Read the entire article here at: wnd.com
(6/15/19 -- Del Norte Triplicate)
Feds return seized cannabis money
Nine months after it was seized during a traffic stop in Stanislaus County, federal customs and border patrol authorities have returned $253,733 to two Crescent City men. According to Bay Area attorney Matthew Kumin, the money was taken from Brian Clemann and Richard Barry, who were transporting it as part of their licensed business, Wild Rivers Transport, on Sept. 6, 2018.
“The California Highway Patrol (CHP), which initially seized the funds as part of its ongoing War on Drugs, handed the money over to agents of the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol,” a Kumin Law Office release said. “CHP believed, mistakenly, that by turning the legally-derived funds over to federal authorities, they could put the money out of legal reach and hobble California’s emerging cannabis industry. The case underscores that CHP’s efforts to shore up a failed and widely reviled drug policy is coming to an end.”
“New laws (the Joyce Amendment and the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals decision in US v. Mcintosh) gave them the tools to decimate the once powerful threat of federal forfeiture,” the release states. “The Team’s message: Attorneys can now successfully challenge federal seizures and licensed cannabis entities can now ship and transport cash from medical cannabis sales with more confidence.”
Read the entire article here at: triplicate.com
(6/15/19 -- Frank Report)
New Asset Forfeiture Filings Will Give U.S. Government Ownership Of NXIVM “Tech”
Earlier this week, Frank Report broke the news on the government’s move to seize various NXIVM-related assets. The assets to be seized include the following:
(1) The real property located at 8 Hale Drive, Halfmoon New York 12065, together with its respective buildings, appurtenances, improvements, fixtures, attachments, easements and furnishings;
(2) Fifteen thousand six hundred seventy dollars and zero cents ($15,670.00) in United States currency seized on or about March 27, 2018 from 3 Oregon Trail, Waterford, New York 12188;
(3) Three hundred ninety thousand one hundred eighty dollars and zero cents ($390,180.00) in United States currency seized on or about March 27, 2018 from 3 Oregon Trail, Waterford, New York 12188;
(4) One hundred nine thousand seven hundred twenty-seven dollars and zero cents ($109,727.00) in United States currency seized on or about March 27, 2018 from 3 Oregon Trail, Waterford, New York 12188;
(5) The real property located at 7 Generals Way, Clifton Park, New York 12065, together with its respective buildings, appurtenances, improvements, fixtures, attachments, easements and furnishings, and all proceeds traceable thereto;
(6) The real property located at 455 New Karner Road, Albany, NY 12205, together with its respective buildings, appurtenances, improvements, fixtures, attachments, easements and furnishings, and all proceeds traceable thereto;
(7) The real property located at 457 New Karner Road, Albany, NY 12205, together with its respective buildings, appurtenances, improvements, fixtures, attachments, easements and furnishings, and all proceeds traceable thereto; and
(8) The real property located at 449 New Karner Road, Albany, NY 12205, together with its respective buildings, appurtenances, improvements, fixtures, attachments, easements and furnishings, and all proceeds traceable thereto.
Read the entire article here at: frankreport.com
(6/15/19 -- Post Register)
Idaho police prosecute hemp for profit
As we try to understand why Idaho police and prosecutors continue to refuse to drop charges against truck drivers transporting hemp across Idaho — despite strong protest from state legislators — an obvious answer is staring us in the face. They intend to sell the seized truck and trailer and keep the money — law enforcement for profit. Idaho law enforcement agencies enjoy a strong incentive to take property because they can retain up to 100 percent of the proceeds. Dropping the criminal cases might expose this abuse of asset forfeiture laws for what it is. Hemp poses no threat to public health or welfare. It is only on a thin legalistic technicality that Ada County continues to pursue prosecution of these unjust “marijuana trafficking” cases. Hemp is legal under federal law; it’s not a controlled substance.
Historically it was grown by our founding fathers — including George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, Benjamin Franklin and Henry Clay. During colonial times, hemp was so valuable (for clothing, food, etc.) it became legal tender. For 200, years taxes were paid with hemp, and in some areas in American colonies, it was illegal not to grow hemp. During the Revolutionary War, growing hemp was a patriotic act. We don’t know how extensive the predatory Idaho police practices monetizing the criminal justice system are because Idaho law does not require transparency. But they wouldn’t even disclose tests showing the seized crop is hemp, not marijuana, until ordered to do so by a federal judge.
(6/14/19 -- TechDirt)
Study Shows Asset Forfeiture Doesn't Fight Crime Or Reduce Drug Use
The lies law enforcement tells about civil asset forfeiture are just that: lies. They may not be intentional lies in some cases. Many law enforcement officials may actually believe the bullshit they spill in defense of taking property from people without convicting them of crimes. But that doesn't change the fact that it's bullshit. If law enforcement was serious about crippling drug cartels, they wouldn't be watching the roads leading out of their jurisdictions for drivers to pull over and shake down for cash. They'd be watching roads leading into the state to seize the drugs before they can be sold. But that's not how it's done. Drug busts are rare. Cash seizures -- especially small ones -- happen all the time.
You'll notice law enforcement never brings stats to the discussion. All officials bring are talking points. Most states don't require any level of reporting on seizures and the law enforcement spending that flows from these. The opacity has allowed a law enforcement tool to become an unaudited revenue stream, providing agencies with all the incentive they need to turn traffic stops into lucrative fishing expeditions. Fortunately, those opposed to the abusive practice will have even more facts to work with, thanks to a new study [PDF] by Dr. Brian D. Kelly of the Institute for Justice. Millions of dollars flow into law enforcement agencies every year from forfeiture, but this has yet to provide the public with any return on the forced investment.
What the report did find is something unexpected: the more financially-stressed an area is, the more likely it is law enforcement will make it worse. Forfeitures increase as unemployment increases, suggesting financially-strapped agencies are stepping up forfeiture efforts to make up for budget shortfalls.
Read the entire article here at: techdirt.com
(6/14/19 -- Mercury News)
Contra Costa cops seized $1.1 million from people not charged with a crime in past four years, records show
Contra Costa County law enforcement agencies seized a total of $1.1 million over four years from people suspected of committing drug-related crimes but never charged, according to county records obtained by this news organization. Through a highly controversial practice called civil asset forfeiture, the money was just part of the roughly $3.48 million in cash and property taken from people suspected of committing such crimes from 2015 to the end of 2018, the records show.
The practice — common in Alameda, Santa Clara, San Mateo and most other counties in the state — has long drawn criticism from civil rights and legal activists who contend it essentially allows authorities to grab money from people even if prosecutors determine there isn’t enough evidence to charge them with a crime, then disburse it to law enforcement agencies and the state’s general fund. Drug cases accounted for the overwhelming majority of such seizures. Where only a single drug was involved, marijuana cases were by far the most common, accounting for up to $1.2 million of the cash forfeiture petitions, compared with around $306,000 in meth cases, $268,000 in heroin cases, $182,000 in cocaine cases, $81,000 in crack cocaine cases and $6,000 in prescription pill cases.
Now, Contra Costa County District Attorney Diana Becton is thinking of slamming the brakes on such seizures. In a written statement to this news organization, Becton said she is considering new rules that would overhaul how civil asset forfeiture is conducted locally, including a possible ban against seizing cash and property unless criminal charges are filed or restricting them to certain dollar amounts. “I am concerned about the implications of civil asset forfeiture when there are no corresponding criminal charges with a seizure,” Becton said. “I also want to ensure we are using all our resources for the cases that need the most attention for possible criminal activity.”
Read the entire article here at: mercurynews.com
(6/14/19 -- WLDS)
State of Illinois Seized $32 million in Civil Asset Forfeiture in 2018
Each year in the State of Illinois, millions of dollars in property are seized by local law enforcement agencies. Across the State of Illinois between July 1, 2018 and May 31, 2019 nearly $32 million dollars worth of assets were seized across the state. Civil asset forfeiture can include money, vehicles, jewelry, electronics and various other pieces of valuable personal property. These pieces of property can sometimes be seized by law enforcement without a criminal charge being filed or a criminal court case. In the summer of 2017, under former Governor Bruce Rauner, Illinois revamped their asset forfeiture laws to be more transparent and fairer to those who are property owners being seized. A study by Lucy Parsons Labs say that asset forfeiture disporportionately hurts particular sectors society, especially those of low socio-economic standards.
Prior to the new law in 2017, Illinois was known to have one of the toughest civil asset forfeiture laws in the country. The nonprofit journalism organization, Pulitzer Center for Crisis Reporting, showed that Illinois seized over $282 million dollars in property between 2010-2017. In 2018, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in a case of civil asset forfeiture that it violated the 8th Amendment of the Constitution which states that courts can’t impose excessive bail and court costs on individuals. Since the ruling, Illinois along with several other states began updating their asset forfeiture standards and the transparency for seizures in criminal cases.
(6/13/19 -- Michigan Radio)
Study says asset forfeitures increase with weak economy, but fail to fight crime
A new study says civil asset forfeiture programs don't help police fight crime. The Institute for Justice says money police departments raise from asset seizures don't lead to less drug use or more solved crimes. The libertarian group also found when the economy weakens, police seize more property. "Specifically, the study found, for every one percent increase in unemployment there's a nine percent increase in forfeiture," said Lee McGrath, an attorney for the Institute of Justice.
The study shows from 2001 to 2013, Michigan agencies took in more than $244 million from forfeited properties. "Law enforcement agencies, both police and prosecutors, pursue forfeiture in communities of economic distress as a way of raising revenue," McGrath said.
Read the entire article here at: michiganradio.org
(6/12/19 -- ABC20)
Recreational marijuana bill impacts local law enforcement
We are one signature away from legalizing recreational marijuana in Illinois. However, its legalization could possibly take money away from local police agencies. Officials at the Sangamon County Sheriff's Office said there's no way to know how much legalizing cannabis here in Illinois will impact their bottom line. "What we've done is talk to our law enforcement partners in other states who have legalized cannabis. They tell us that whatever number they receive is not enough, so we are getting ready for the fact that it may not be enough," Sangamon County Sheriff Jack Campbell said. Between July 1, 2018 and May 31, 2019, law enforcement agencies seized at least $32,118,572 worth of assets in Illinois.
A total of $30,751.00 came from Sangamon County.
"The problem is we don't make enough money. It's not enough to fund anything. It's money that we can add to training and equipment but it's not enough that we can budget for it," Sheriff Campbell said.
Read the entire article here at: newschannel20.com
(6/13/19 -- Alabama Political Reporter)
Ivey signs civil asset forfeiture law
On Monday afternoon, Gov. Ivey signed into law the Alabama Forfeiture Information Reporting Act, which will shine a light on law enforcement’s often secretive use of civil forfeiture. Senate Bill 191, sponsored by Sen. Arthur Orr, R-Decatur, passed both the House and Senate unanimously during this year’s legislative session.
The new law, SB191, requires law enforcement agencies to enter details of all seizures into a public database. Agencies must report the date, description, and location of the seizure, the agency involved, any arrests connected with the seizure, any claimants, and the disposition of property, as well as the proceeds agencies collected from the forfeiture property. Agencies’ seizure and forfeiture activity, along with the amount of proceeds received, will be aggregated into an annual report by the Alabama Criminal Justice Information Center Commission and made available online. In addition, law enforcement’s civil forfeiture funds will be audited.
SB 191 largely tracks what has been collected by the Alabama Forfeiture Accountability System, which is a voluntary reporting database that was announced earlier this year by the Alabama District Attorneys Association. However, both the Alabama Forfeiture Accountability System and the new system created by SB 191 do not cover how law enforcement agencies spend their forfeiture money, which is “generated and spent outside the normal appropriations process and evades public scrutiny,” according to a release from the Institute for Justice. “By itself, improved transparency cannot fix the fundamental problems with civil forfeiture—namely, the property rights abuses it permits and the temptation it creates to police for profit,” said Jennifer McDonald, an IJ research analyst who co-authored the transparency report. “Though limited, the Alabama Forfeiture Information Reporting Act is a welcome first step for keeping both the public and legislators well-informed about civil forfeiture in Alabama.”
Read the entire article here at: alreporter.com
(6/12/19 -- Reason)
Asset Forfeiture Funding Has Little Impact on Solving Crimes, Says New Study
Law enforcement groups have long argued that civil asset forfeiture, a practice that allows police to seize property suspected of being connected to criminal activity, is a vital tool for stopping drug trafficking, but a new study found that the nation's largest forfeiture program had little effect on crime fighting.
The Institute for Justice, a libertarian-leaning public interest law firm that has challenged asset forfeiture laws in several states, released the study today. It examined a decade's worth of asset forfeiture data from the Justice Department's equitable sharing program, which distributes hundreds of millions of dollars in forfeiture revenues to state and local police agencies, and found that more forfeiture proceeds did not result in more solved crimes or less drug use. The study also found that asset forfeiture activity increased in times of local economic stress. For example, the study reported that a 1 percent increase in local unemployment "was associated with a statistically significant 9 percentage point increase in seizures of property for forfeiture."
The study's author, Dr. Brian Kelly, an associate professor of economics at Seattle University, says the results undercut law enforcement's claim that asset forfeiture funding helps drive down crime. "These results add to a growing body of evidence suggesting that forfeiture's value in crime fighting is exaggerated and that police do use forfeiture to raise revenue," Kelly said in a press release. "Given this evidence and the serious civil liberties concerns raised by forfeiture, forfeiture proponents should bear the burden of proof when opposing reforms that would keep police focused on fighting crime, not raising revenue."
Read the entire article here at: reason.com
(6/12/19 -- Marijuana Business Daily)
Federal agents return $250K seized from licensed CA marijuana distributor
The federal government has given back $257,733 that was seized by law enforcement officers from a licensed California cannabis distributor last fall. It’s a big legal win for state-authorized cannabis companies, an attorney in the case said Wednesday.
Humboldt County-based Wild Rivers Transport filed suit in San Francisco County Superior Court in December after two of its drivers were stopped by California Highway Patrol in September. Federal authorities were called to the scene, and more than a quarter million dollars in cash – from a recent MJ business delivery – was confiscated. Wild Rivers at the time said it was the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) that seized its money and the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) was the agency that agreed to return it, according to a news release from Wild Rivers’ attorney, Matt Kumin.
According to the release, prosecutors decided not to file an asset forfeiture case, and Kumin pointed to a 9th Circuit Court of Appeals decision in 2016 – U.S. v. McIntosh – as a key to the win. The decision hinged on a temporary federal law, the Rohrabacher-Farr Amendment (now called the Joyce Amendment), that barred the U.S. Department of Justice from using federal funding to interfere with state medical marijuana programs or businesses. Recreational cannabis companies are not protected.
Read the entire article here at: mjbizdaily.com
(6/11/19 -- The Detroit News)
Suit seeks contempt charges against Macomb prosecutor
The former head of the Macomb County Republican Party filed a lawsuit Tuesday seeking to have Macomb County Prosecutor Eric Smith and one of his top assistants found in contempt of court in the ongoing forfeiture fund controversy. Attorney Frank Cusumano Jr., who represents Jared Maynard, had previously sued for copies of records concerning transactions from forfeiture fund accounts set up by Smith. Maynard and others have been questioning whether $1.8 million taken from drug dealers, drunken drivers and others by Smith has been appropriately spent for law enforcement purposes.
Tuesday’s lawsuit alleges that in hearings this past January in Macomb Circuit Court, Smith or his attorney, Joshua Van Laan, misrepresented to Judge Edward Servitto whether Smith's office had possession of records, including invoices. The lawsuit cites search warrants and warrant returns that Smith released to the news media Monday as indications that he did have such documents vendor materials from Weber Security Group and Chemical Bank “receipts and notes” that Michigan State Police removed from his county offices in an April 17 raid.
State police are investigating whether public funds were used to finance an elaborate security system that troopers dismantled at Smith’s Macomb Township home during a separate raid last month. Weber received more than $160,000 in work primarily done on the prosecutor’s third and fifth floor offices from the forfeiture fund, according to records. “The June 10, 2019, disclosure strongly suggests that … (Smith and Van Laan) … acted in bad-faith and blatantly lied to this court repeatedly and as a result justice was subverted on material issues before the court,” the lawsuit alleges.
Read the entire article here at: detroitnews.com
(6/11/19 -- Pulitzer Center)
Taken: Reforms to State Civil Forfeiture Laws Still Lag, Critics Say
Increasing lawsuits and allegations of civil right violations prompted the Illinois legislature to pass reforms of civil asset forfeitures that went into effect last year. Both federal and state civil asset forfeiture laws allow the seizure of property without a criminal charge being filed or case being filed in court. Illinois reforms limited seizures by requiring police to have a slightly higher burden of proof to seize the property.
For example, drug residue found in a person’s pocket is no longer grounds for Illinois police to take a car, said Ben Ruddell, criminal justice policy attorney at the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois in Chicago. The reform required data collection and reports on seizures to more create transparency. It also eliminated the requirement that citizens needed to post a 10 percent bond of the value of the property that was seized before their case to retrieve their property was even heard.
“We’re proud of it and it made of a lot of different changes in different areas, all of which are good, some of which are significant but none of which are transformational,” Ruddell said. But reforms to Illinois law such as requiring a conviction to keep seized property and removing the financial incentives from police departments were not adopted, he said. “We were not able to achieve what we see as absolutely essential to truly transformational reform to this system,” he said.
Read the entire article here at: pulitzercenter.org
(6/11/19 -- Washington Post)
Study: Civil asset forfeiture doesn’t discourage drug use or help police solve crimes
When you tell people who know little of our criminal justice system about civil asset forfeiture, they often don’t believe you. And it isn’t difficult to see why. It’s a practice so contrary to a basic sense of justice and fairness that you want to believe someone is pulling your leg, or at least exaggerating.
Proponents of civil forfeiture offer a few arguments in support of the policy. First, they argue that forfeiture is primarily used against big-time criminals and drug dealers — that it robs crime lords of ill-gotten gains. But the data suggests otherwise. A review of 315 seizures in Mississippi, for example, found just six were for property worth more than $60,000, and most of those involved vape shops operating openly that had been accused of selling synthetic drugs. The average forfeiture amount in Washington is just $141. A review of more than 8,200 seizures in Philadelphia released earlier this year found the average forfeiture amount was $550, and the median amount just $178. (Since forfeiture averages can be skewed by a very small percentage of cases in which police really did nab a high-value drug dealer, the median seizure is often more representative of a typical forfeiture target.) Another review of more than 23,000 seizures in Cook County, Ill., put the average amount of $4,553 and the median at $1,049. The same review found that the overwhelming number of civil forfeiture cases were in the city’s poor and black neighborhoods.
In response to criticism that civil forfeiture creates perverse incentives for law enforcement and/or that it’s simply unjust, some states have passed laws putting restrictions on the policy. Some of these laws require that any proceeds from civil forfeiture cases go to a general revenue fund, or to some unrelated area such as a school fund. Others have raised the burden of proof in forfeiture cases and given more protections to property owners. More recently, several states have effectively banned civil forfeiture altogether, allowing forfeitures only in cases where prosecutors can obtain a criminal conviction.
Read the entire article here at: washingtonpost.com
(6/10/19 -- Texas Tribune)
What the examination found in Smith County
In the piney woods of East Texas, Smith County law enforcement almost never seize property without filing criminal charges — and the tone is set by the district attorney’s office. Smith County Assistant District Attorney Thomas Wilson, who leads the forfeiture division, said his office’s policy is to only seize property if there’s a criminal charge. He said he’s had officers call him after pulling someone over with $16,000 in cash, and he asked them: “Well, how is that illegal?”
The Texas Tribune reviewed all 35 state seizure cases in Smith County from 2016, and only two of them did not coincide with a criminal charge. In one case, Wilson said a co-defendant was charged with drug possession, and in the second, the county declined to pursue criminal charges for evading arrest and also dismissed the related seizure of a motorcycle, returning it to a man who police said didn’t pull over for miles after speeding. But Smith County also differed from the other counties in the investigation by bringing in the lowest dollar amount per seizure. Only two cases brought in more than $10,000; more than half of cash seizures resulted in less than $1,500.
Read the entire article here at: news-journal.com
(6/9/19 -- Las Vegas Review-Journal)
Legislature missed an opportunity to reform civil asset forfeiture
A bill that earned overwhelming bipartisan support in the Assembly didn’t even receive a hearing in the Senate. That was the unfortunate end of civil forfeiture reform efforts this legislative session. Civil forfeiture sounds like something that happens only in Third World countries. It allows police to take property they suspect has been involved in a crime even if the owner is never convicted or even charged with wrongdoing. Innocent owners bear the burden of proof if they hope to recover their valuables, a burdensome and expensive process. Making matters worse, the police are often allowed to keep the proceeds of the items they seize, which encourages “policing for profit” as the Institute for Justice has so aptly labeled it.
AB420 would have tied forfeiture proceedings to criminal convictions, plea bargains or agreements between the parties. The state would have had to prove that the property was subject to forfeiture. It would have moved these cases from civil to criminal court and given the accused, at a minimum, access to a public defender. Just as important, AB420 would have prevented police departments from keeping the proceeds of any forfeiture in excess of expenses.
Assembly Judiciary chairman Steve Yeager, D-Las Vegas, did yeoman’s work moving the bill through the lower chamber. It passed 34-6, with only six Republicans opposed. Unfortunately, it never came up for a vote in the Senate Judiciary Committee, chaired by Majority Leader Nicole Cannizzaro, D-Las Vegas. It’s likely the bill never had a chance. Ms. Cannizzaro moonlights as a chief deputy district attorney in Clark County. Exhibit No. 57 regarding the dangers of ignoring the constitutional provision banning public employees from serving in the Legislature.
Read the entire article here at: reviewjournal.com
(6/7/19 -- Texas Standard)
A Deep Dive Into Civil Asset Forfeiture Found That Most Don’t Fight To Reclaim Property
It’s time for the week that was in Texas politics with Jolie McCullough, criminal justice reporter for the The Texas Tribune. Civil asset forfeiture, a practice that some have described as de facto robbery by police, allows Texas law enforcement officers to seize money and property with little oversight or transparency. The Tribune released a study Friday, which analyzed 560 cases from four counties to shine a light on the controversial practice. McCullough says police can take money and property without convicting or even charging anyone of a crime, and almost 60% of people whose belongings were seized did not fight to get them back.
Hear the entire article here at: texasstandard.org
(6/7/19 -- Texas Tribune)
Texas police can seize money and property with little transparency. So we got the data ourselves.
In January 2016, Houston police took $955 from a man they said was a gang member with a criminal history because they suspected he was selling painkillers found in his car during a traffic stop. When prosecutors discovered he had a valid prescription for the drugs, they dropped the possession charge. But the man’s money still went into the coffers of the police department and the local prosecutor.
A few months later near the U.S.-Mexico border, a Webb County sheriff’s deputy pulled over a southbound car that Border Patrol agents had flagged for having hidden compartments. There was nothing in the compartments, but because deputies suspected it was tied to drug trafficking, they still seized the 2007 Nissan Altima. The driver wasn’t charged with a crime.
The seizures highlight the controversial but complicated nature of a common policing practice called civil asset forfeiture, where law enforcement agencies can take and keep a person’s cash and property without charging the person with a crime. Instead, the government sues the property itself in civil court — where property owners have no right to a court-appointed lawyer — leading to oddly-named lawsuits like The State of Texas v. one 2005 Ford Mustang. State and local law enforcement agencies bring in about $50 million per year through state asset forfeiture laws, but there is little data on how this powerful tool is used in Texas. Agencies and prosecutors must report their overall profits from seizures to the state, but law enforcement officials have successfully fought legislative proposals that would require them to release data on how much is taken in individual seizures, and how often they are tied to a criminal charge.
Read the entire article here at: texastribune.org
(6/6/19 -- WXYZ Detroit)
New questions raised about embattled Macomb County Prosecutor and outside attorney
Macomb County Prosecutor Eric Smith, already under criminal investigation by Michigan State Police is now facing questions about hiring outside legal counsel to represent him. State Police raided Smith’s office on April 17 investigating four off-book bank accounts that held close to $2 million in crime forfeiture funds over several years. Then in May, State Police raided the Prosecutor’s home and removed security cameras from the outside that were paid for with forfeiture funds. The Prosecutor has hired the Clark Hill Law Firm as approved by the County Commission. But the contract on how much they will be paid in taxpayer money has not been done and also needs approval by the County Commission. The work has already started and we are told a bill has been submitted for $10,800. Will it be paid?
Smith has refused to provide documents sought by several news organizations and citizens under the Freedom of Information Act as to what State Police seized in their office raid, what’s called a return tabulation that would have been given to Smith. The County Executive and County Corporation Counsel believe that should be provided under FOIA Law and they believe Corporation Counsel acts on behalf of the Prosecutor. One of the battles over the release of the documents goes before a Judge on Monday in Macomb County.
Read the entire article here at: wxyz.com
(6/5/19 -- Hudson Reporter)
When police take your stuff
Every year, hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash, cars, boats, houses, and other assets are seized by the Hudson County Prosecutor’s Office from citizens when they are suspected of committing a crime, in a practice known as “civil asset forfeiture.” The property, which is seized ostensibly because of its use in an alleged crime, can be held under a separate civil lawsuit and returned only after a legal challenge.
In Hudson County, assets are most often seized in small amounts and from marginalized communities. Police departments then sell that property at police auctions with the proceeds going to fund the departments. Advocates for reform liken the practice to a shakedown, legalized mugging, and policing for profit. Those who have property seized can go to court to get their property back, but the legal process is often more expensive than the value of the property itself. In 2016, the Hudson County Prosecutor’s Office seized $171 from Jersey City resident Jermaine Mitchell when police arrested him for a drug offense, according to a report from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). It would have cost Mitchell $175 to file a challenge.
Hudson County seized more than $627 thousand worth of assets in 453 seizures from January to May of 2016, according to the ACLU report. More than $5.5 million was seized across the state over the same time span. Jersey City topped the list, by far, in number of seizures over that time, with 346, while Newark and Paterson ranked second and third, respectively, with 175 and 93. Union City ranked tenth at 23 seizures. According to the report, areas with greater populations of people of color tended to have a higher number of seizures.
Now, New Jersey Assembly representatives, including two from Hudson County, have successfully passed four bills that would reform civil asset forfeiture laws. One of the bills would establish a “Fairness in Asset Forfeiture Proceedings Task Force” and would study “the nature, extent and consequences of the lack of legal representation of certain New Jersey residents in asset forfeiture proceedings.” It was passed before but vetoed by former Gov. Chris Christie. The bills are now awaiting a vote in the New Jersey State Senate.
Read the entire article here at: hudsonreporter.com
(6/4/19 -- Nogales International)
Reports of local cash busts now few and far between
Amid its regular stream of news releases announcing hard drug seizures at Nogales ports of entry, U.S. Customs and Border Protection last month reported a different type of bust. On May 10, the agency said, officers performing outbound operations at the Mariposa crossing discovered two large bundles of unreported U.S. currency in the rear seats of a Ford sedan headed for Mexico. The packages contained nearly $96,000, CBP said.
In the early 2010s, local seizures of the suspected proceeds from illegal drug sales tended to be frequent and often involved large amounts of cash – such as the $1.6 million in undeclared currency found in a Toyota pickup truck at the Dennis DeConcini Port of Entry in June 2013, or the more than $1 million pulled from a mini-van trying to cross into Mexico through the same port in June 2011.
The May 10 seizure of $96,000, however, was the first cash bust at a Nogales port of entry announced by CBP since mid-2016. It was the first such bust made known to the NI through court records since April 13, 2017. CBP statistics show that nationwide, the agency’s cash seizures had declined from $147 million in fiscal year 2010 to less than half that amount in fiscal year 2018.
Read the entire article here at: nogalesinternational.com
(6/4/19 -- New York Law Journal)
‘Timbs v. Indiana’: Much Ado About Nothing or a Wave in the Sea of Change?
Of late, very little unites the conservative and liberal wings of the U.S. Supreme Court. However, in Timbs v. Indiana, 586 U.S. ___, 139 S.Ct. 682 (Feb. 20, 2019), the court unanimously held in favor of Tyson Timbs, a convicted heroin dealer faced with losing his $42,000 automobile under Indiana’s civil forfeiture law. The specific issue in Timbs was whether the Eighth Amendment’s Excessive Fines Clause is an incorporated protection applicable to the states under the Fourteenth Amendment’s Due Process Clause. The question arose following the seizure of Timbs’ Land Rover pursuant to an Indiana civil forfeiture statute authorizing the forfeiture of vehicles used to “transport or … facilitate the transportation of” a controlled substance. Ind. Code §34-24-1-1. Timbs pled guilty to dealing a controlled substance and conspiracy to commit theft, and it was alleged that the Land Rover had been used to transport heroin in connection with his criminal activity. Timbs, 139 S.Ct. at 686.
Because the Land Rover was valued at more than 33 times the $1,200 fine imposed upon him (and more than four times the $10,000 maximum fine allowed under Indiana law), Timbs challenged the forfeiture as grossly disproportionate to the gravity of his offense. On certiorari, the Supreme Court agreed, vacating and remanding the Indiana Supreme Court’s decision that the Excessive Fines Clause was inapplicable to state impositions against property. The court reviewed the historical backdrop of the Excessive Fines Clause and its purpose in “guard[ing] against abuses of government’s punitive or criminal law-enforcement authority.” Timbs, 139 S.Ct. at 686. As a safeguard fundamental to our scheme of ordered liberty, the court held that the “historical and logical case for concluding that the Fourteenth Amendment incorporates the Excessive Fines Clause is overwhelming.” Id. at 689.
Although Timbs resolved the issue of whether the Excessive Fines Clause applies to the states in state civil forfeiture proceedings, its holding vis-à-vis New York law changes little, if anything, with respect to “instrumentality” forfeitures (i.e., the forfeiture of property used in the commission of a crime). Indeed, New York has long-entertained excessive fines challenges to civil forfeitures pursuant to both the Eighth Amendment and Article 1, §5 of the New York State Constitution. See County of Nassau v. Canavan, 1 N.Y.3d 134, 139 (2003) (“[b]oth the Federal and State Constitutions prohibit the imposition of excessive fines”). As a result, Timbs, on its own, will not result in any seismic shift in New York forfeiture law or practice. As discussed below, however, when taken together with other recent forfeiture-related decisions from the Supreme Court and newly adopted state legislation, Timbs certainly appears to be part of a changing tide with respect to forfeiture generally.
Read the entire article here at: law.com
(6/3/19 -- The Neighbor)
Legislator promises new bill that could imperil law enforcement funding
A bill introduced by a metro legislator earlier this year has raised concerns among local law enforcement that a funding source that helps pay for specialized training and equipment could dry up. “If the forfeitures went away it would be a big hit to our local agencies and to agencies across the state,” said Rice County Sheriff Troy Dunn.
Lesch, the bill’s chief author, agreed to kill his 2019 bill, but in an interview last week with the Daily News, promised to introduce another version when the Legislature reconvenes next year. “There will be another bill, it will be more aggressive,” Lesch said, pointing to the abuse of forfeiture laws by the now disbanded Metro Gang Strike Force. While there have been modifications to those laws, Lesch wants more done to ensure individual rights aren’t being trampled. That would affect area residents as well as the Rice County Sheriff’s Office, and Faribault and Northfield Police departments. The Le Sueur County Sheriff’s Office, which is a member of the Cannon River Drug and Violent Offender Task Force, would be impacted, too. Dunn estimated the Rice County law enforcement could lose $100,000 if forfeiture dollars are redirected.
Read the entire article here at: mdjonline.com
(6/1/19 -- Lancaster Online)
Judge: County can join in fight for DA drug assets records
A judge has granted the Lancaster County commissioners’ request to join a legal dispute between LNP and the district attorney’s office over access to documents the state has determined to be a matter of public record. Lancaster County Judge Leonard G. Brown III’s decision represents a win for the commissioners, who like LNP are seeking access to details of how the district attorney spends cash and the proceeds of other property seized in drug cases. “As the case progresses, we look forward to the court’s resolution of important issues involving the reconciliation of the asset forfeiture statute with the Right to Know Law.” said county solicitor Christina Hausner.
But the judge also indicated that certain documents and summaries of spending already made available by the district attorney’s office represent a “facially reasonable” response to requests for information by this newspaper and the commissioners. “What we found important is the Court recognizing that we have offered more than what LNP requested,” said Brett Hambright, a spokesman for the district attorney’s office. The district attorney’s office has offered access to certain records with the stipulation that journalists sign a confidentiality agreement beforehand. LNP has objected to the requirement in light of the state Office of Open Records ruling in its favor requiring the district attorney’s office to provide unfettered access to the records.
Read the entire article here at: lancasteronline.com