- Across America, the Drug Enforcement Administration is
seizing the luggage, cash and cars of hapless travelers. Mere possession
of a large amount of cash or a drug dog barking at your luggage is sufficient
probable cause for police to legally seize everything you are carrying
under Americaís new civil forfeiture laws.
-
- In Albuquerque, N.M., in February 2000, DEA agents detained
Sam Thach, who was traveling on Amtrak from Fullerton, Calif., to Boston,
and seized $147,000 in cash he was carrying. Thach had no drugs. His crime?
He had bought a one-way ticket for cash and didnít give Amtrak his
phone number. (1)
-
- The DEA seized $640,000 from Jennifer Leigh Ames while
she was traveling on Amtrak on April 5, 2001. Agents say she looked nervous
and had refused permission to search her luggage. (1)
-
- Former Newark, N.J., policeman Carlos Hernandez discovered
police searching his Amtrak sleeper cabin and demanding to search his luggage
on July 22, 1999. Hernandezís crime? Heís Hispanic and paid
for his $694 ticket in cash. (2)
-
- At Houstonís Hobby Airport, police stopped 49-year-old
Ethel Hylton and seized her luggage because a drug dog had scratched it.
Agents searched her bags and strip-searched her but found no drugs. They
did find $39,110 in cash from an insurance settlement and her life savings,
accumulated through over 20 years of work as a hotel housekeeper and hospital
janitor. Ms. Hylton completely documented where she had gotten the money
and was never charged with a crime. But the police kept her money anyway.
Destitute, she had no way to fight them.
-
- These outrageous seizures are completely legal and have
been upheld by the highest courts in the land, including the U.S. Supreme
Court.
-
- The DEA's Web site claims, "Property is seized by
the DEA only when it is determined to be a tool for, or the proceeds of,
illegal activities such as drug trafficking, organized crime, or money
laundering." But the above examples show the reality.
-
- Under civil asset forfeiture, your property ñ
not you ñ is charged with a crime. Hence the bizarre title of civil
forfeiture cases: "United States vs. one 1998 Mercedes Benz,î
"California vs. 1711 Main Street,î and so forth.
-
- Once your property is charged with a crime, it can be
seized and kept by police, even if you are never convicted of anything.
An appeals court in Florida even ruled that police can personally receive
bounties of 25 percent of the value of anything they seize from you, such
as your car, bank accounts or home.
-
- There are now more than 400 federal offenses and thousands
of state and local offenses for which your cash, car, bank accounts and
home can be seized - including shoplifting, hiring an illegal alien such
as a maid (California), playing a car stereo too loud (New York), transporting
illegal fireworks, gambling, having illegal drugs on your property, and
merely discussing violating any law ("conspiracyî), such as
underpaying your taxes.
-
- More than $1 billion in property is now seized without
trial each year from innocent Americans, according to the national forfeiture
defense organization FEAR (Forfeiture Endangers American Rights) (3). Seizures
range from the pocket cash of poor street people ... to the cars of men
accused of soliciting prostitutes ... to multimillion-dollar apartment
buildings.
-
- Once police seize your property, the burden of proof
is on you to prove your propertyís innocence. Any suspected illegal
actions of your relatives, guests, friends and employees on or even near
your property are sufficient grounds to seize it.
-
- In Montgomery, Ala., police seized the home of 69-year-old
Gussie Mae Gantt after videotaping police informants buying drugs in her
yard. Ms. Gantt had previously called the police, complaining about drug-dealing
in her neighborhood, and had posted no-trespassing signs. The drug dealers
wouldn't stop - so police set up a drug deal and confiscated her home.
-
- Easy Money for the Government
-
- Once your home, car, and bank accounts are seized under
civil asset forfeiture laws, you can pretty much forget about ever getting
them back. Itís you versus the police and courts, who divide up
the proceeds from your property according to formulas such as "80
percent for police, 20 percent for the court.î
-
- If you want to fight seizure of your property, expect
to spend at least $15,000 just to hire a competent asset defense attorney.
Also expect the police to introduce hearsay evidence and to go through
trial after trial, because the normal constitutional protections afforded
criminal suspects donít apply to civil forfeiture of your property.
(4)
-
- With all of this easy confiscated money, asset confiscation
is now big business across America. In Volusia County, Fla., police seized
more than $8 million worth of cars from motorists stopped for minor traffic
violations along Interstate 95. (5) In Alameda County, Calif., police auction
off hundreds of seized cars and boats every month.
-
- The latest wrinkle in civil asset forfeiture is police
working with Amtrak, Greyhound, airlines and hotels to seize cash from
travelers. The Albuquerque Journal reports that Amtrak gave the Drug Enforcement
Administration access to its booking system in exchange for 10 percent
of any monies seized by police.
-
- The DEA has similar deals with airlines at major airports
and many hotel and motel owners in Los Angeles, Las Vegas and other large
cities. DEA agents are now permanently stationed at major airports and
hotels.
-
- So, the next time you pay for an Amtrak ticket, airline
flight or hotel room in cash, donít be surprised if you get a knock
on your door from machine-gun-armed DEA agents.
-
- Sources:
-
- (1) "Railway Bandits,î Reason, July 2001,
p. 14.
-
- (2) "Railway Bandits,î Reason, July 2001,
p. 15.
-
- (3) Forfeiture Endangers American Rights, www.fear.org.
-
- (4) An analysis of U.S. asset forfeiture laws, with extensive
legal citations, can be found in the book "Your House is Under Arrest,"
by Brenda Grantland, one of Americaís leading asset defense attorneys.
Copies are available from ISIL, 707/726-8796, www.isil.org. Another excellent
source is "Forfeiting Our Property Rights," by U.S. Rep. Henry
Hyde, R-Ill.
-
- (5) Orlando Sentinel, Aug. 2, 1992.
|
