On June 30th, a 63 year old man and his 22 year old son successfully defended their home from two perpetrators, leaving one of the burglars bleeding to death on the floor. The son was stabbed in the belly, while the father and the second perpetrator escaped without injuries. The initial case appeared to be cut and dried, as shown in the following article, as published in the Toledo Blade:
http://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070702/NEWS03/70702007
Then police discovered the home owner's life savings in a safe on the premises, and the ensuing search yielded a bag of marijuana. The money, totaling $402,767, was then confiscated by local police due to suspicion that the money was the result of drug trafficking. Because of the gravity of the crime, the FBI stepped in and seized the money as evidence for its own investigation.
The owner has not been charged with any crime, and has been cleared in the fatal shooting which occurred while he defended his home. The FBI, however, is now refusing to give the man back his life savings, saying he must prove the money was not made illegally. The owner doesn't trust banks (imagine that), and says the money was saved over his and his now-deceased wife's lifetime, but the FBI wants dated receipts for every transaction.
The story can be found here:
http://www.limaohio.com/story.php?IDnum=47047
Under current asset forfeiture and seizure laws, large sums of money can be confiscated when any suspicion of foul play is involved. Unfortunately, there is a predominant attitude among law enforcement agencies that lawful citizens have no business carrying or keeping large sums of cash. Obviously, if that money was made legitimately, it should be in a bank, right? This attitude tends to cast suspicion on all large sums of cash in law enforcement official's eyes. Since I think the banking system is a fraudulent game, this makes me a bad citizen, I suppose. I weep at the prospect.
A little e-perusing yielded the following:
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0CWU/is_2005_June_24/ai_n14697550
Woman sues DEA over seizure of $46,950 in cash at an airport.
http://lawyerresponse.com/news.php?id=52&title=MONEY%20SEIZED%20AT%20THE%20AIRPORT
Guatemalan man loses $59,000 as it is seized by government officials at airport.
http://www.thenewspaper.com/news/12/1296.asp
$124,700 seized in traffic stop, no charges filed against motorist.
http://www.fear.org/ffjournal/$242,484.html
A happy ending to this one. She actually got her money back.
My synopsis? Any money you stick in your mattress instantly becomes property of the Federal Government when it reaches proper proportions. Exactly how many dollars are required to reach this amount is difficult to say, and is in the subjective hands of law enforcement. Uncle Sam, and everything our country was supposedly founded upon, are dead.
6 comments:
Augh, does this mean I have to make a Zombie Uncle Sam blog now?
I've heard of this before. It didn't suprise me then, doesn't suprise me now. Still it is horrid...and typical of our government.
Asset forfeiture is big business for government. From this article:
"How extensive are seizures in America today? The Washington Post has reported that the US Marshals Service alone had an inventory of over $1.4 billion in seized assets, including over 30,000 cars, boats, homes and businesses. Federal and state agencies seizing property now include the FBI, the DEA, the US Marshals Service, the Coast Guard, the IRS, local police, state highway patrols, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, FDA, and the Bureau of Land Management. Asset forfeiture is a growth industry. Seizures have increased from $27 million in 1986, to over $644 million in 1991 to over $2 billion today."
And that was written in 1998. :P
ding ding ding!!!
You got it... not to mention that what the country was founded on was fucked up to begin with.
I agree it's sick. Unfortunately, it's legal, and as our zombie friend has posted, all too common.
I've heard of cars being taken as well- ordinary cars taken from people with jobs clearly sufficient to pay for them who got hit with a possession case. Sometimes it's easy to spot ill gotten gains because the math makes it obvious they couldn't have bought the car legit but I've heard of people who make decent money getting their $15k car seized for a relatively insignificant amount of pot or coke.
I think these laws were originally made to stick it to people who were driving $80k cars having never filed a tax return but they're now being misused to screw all drug offenders a little harder.
Post a Comment