How Is This Not Theft -- Under The Cover Of A Badge?
The latest "asset forfeiture" story -- which describes how government thugs can take your money if they make up some reason you might have gotten it illegally -- involves a young guy from Michigan, 22-year-old Joseph Rivers.
His relatives had given him $16,000 in cash to go out to LA to make a music video. DEA agents stopped his train in Albuquerque and asked Rivers -- the only black person in his train car -- to search his bags. Big mistake -- probably because he knew he'd done nothing wrong, he let them.
Joline Guttierez Kruger writes in the Albuquerque Journal News:
In one of the bags, the agent found the cash, still in the Michigan bank envelope."I even allowed him to call my mother, a military veteran and (hospital) coordinator, to corroborate my story," Rivers said. "Even with all of this, the officers decided to take my money because he stated that he believed that the money was involved in some type of narcotic activity."
Rivers was left penniless, his dream deferred.
"These officers took everything that I had worked so hard to save and even money that was given to me by family that believed in me," Rivers said in his email. "I told (the DEA agents) I had no money and no means to survive in Los Angeles if they took my money. They informed me that it was my responsibility to figure out how I was going to do that."
Other travelers had witnessed what happened. One of them, a New Mexico man I've written about before but who asked that I not mention his name, provided a way for Rivers to get home, contacted attorneys - and me.
"He was literally like my guardian angel that came out of nowhere," Rivers said.
Sean Waite, the agent in charge for the DEA in Albuquerque, said he could not comment on the Rivers case because it is ongoing. He disputed allegations that Rivers was targeted because of his race.
Waite said that in general DEA agents look for "indicators" such as whether the person bought an expensive one-way ticket with cash, if the person is traveling from or to a city known as a hot spot for drug activity, if the person's story has inconsistencies or if the large sums of money found could have been transported by more conventional means.
"We don't have to prove that the person is guilty," Waite said. "It's that the money is presumed to be guilty."
Do you have "guilty" money in your wallet?
Oh, and at the end of the piece, there's this:
Five days before Rivers' encounter in Albuquerque, Gov. Susana Martinez signed into law a bill that bars state and local law enforcement from seizing money or property under civil asset forfeiture. The law takes effect in July.But the new state law won't supersede the federal law, meaning federal agencies such as the DEA are still free to take your cash on arguably the flimsiest of legal grounds.
There's a crowdfunding page to try to replace Rivers' money.
via @overlawyered
Yes, it is theft. It's also a violation of the 5th Amendment:
No person shall ... be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law;
But even the so-called "conservatives" on the Supreme Court have been infected with the leftist notion that property rights are inferior to other rights.
markm at May 12, 2015 5:00 AM
Related on abusive searches: Terrif post by Scott Greenfield on a man whose computer was seized and searched...as he was leaving the country!
http://blog.simplejustice.us/2015/05/12/that-riley-moment/
Love this: That the “government’s interest in protecting the homeland from departing computers was thin at best.”
Amy Alkon at May 12, 2015 5:30 AM
From the judge's decision:
Amy Alkon at May 12, 2015 5:33 AM
More:
Amy Alkon at May 12, 2015 5:34 AM
"But the new state law won't supersede the federal law, meaning federal agencies such as the DEA are still free to take your cash on arguably the flimsiest of legal grounds."
It's time for states to start declaring nullification and dare the federal government to do anything about it. Unfortunately, it won't work unless a large majority of the states agree to do it; otherwise, the states that try it will be blackmailed by withholding of federal funds.
Cousin Dave at May 12, 2015 7:05 AM
Yep, we just had one here too:
http://www.statesman.com/news/news/crime-law/wilco-deputy-finds-46480-during-traffic-stop/nmDrH/?ecmp=statesman_social_facebook_2014_sfp
This is one of those issues that makes my blood boil.
Astra at May 12, 2015 7:12 AM
Source: http://www.cnet.com/news/kevin-mitnick-detained-released-after-colombia-trip/
I R A Darth Aggie at May 12, 2015 7:16 AM
This is such bullshit. Reason number too numerous to mention why I'm against the drug war.
Janet C at May 12, 2015 9:43 AM
If Obama follows the counsel of his principle advisor Al Sharpton and federalizes the police, the bill Martinez signed into law won't amount to a goddamned thing.
Patrick at May 12, 2015 11:08 AM
Cops are scum. Why does this type of behavior still surprise people? Once again, Cops are scum!
Bob at May 14, 2015 2:39 AM
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