Posted on 04/25/2016 11:10:30 AM PDT by nickcarraway
Attorneys for a refugee from Burma say Muskogee County sheriff’s deputies wrongfully took money from the man meant for a church, a Christian band, and an orphanage in Thailand.
The man, who is a U.S. citizen living in Dallas, appeared in court in Muskogee Monday morning.
He’s now charged with acquiring proceeds from drug activity.
However, Eh Wah did not have any drugs in his possession when he was pulled over in Muskogee.
According to the deputy’s report, Wah was pulled over for a broken tail light and was not arrested. The deputy said his K-9 indicated an alert in the vehicle, and the deputy searched it.
No drugs or paraphernalia were found, only cash.
Court documents show Wah was managing a band from his home country of Burma.
Sheriff’s deputies seized $32,000 in cash from a gift bag in Wah’s car that he says was raised from concert ticket sales, offerings collected by churches, and donations from individuals meant for the Dr. T. Thanbyar Christian Institute, a nonprofit Karen Christian liberal arts education institute in Burma.
Wah also had more than $7,000 in proceeds from CD sales during the tour.
About $1,000 of the seized cash was in envelopes with the name of the orphanage in Thailand on them.
In total, court records show deputies seized a total of $53,249 in cash from Wah.
The claimants of the cash deny it was used to facilitate the sale of any controlled dangerous substance.
Wah does not have a criminal record. He’s now free on a $5,000 bond.
He is due back in court in July for the criminal charge.
A few thoughts:
1) He is a former refugee, now a citizen it seems.
2) Where he comes from you deal in cash and avoid the government. Might be a good idea here also, maybe not.
3)I would suspect the money is collected from other refugees and small churches if it is contributions. Else the source is sales of cd’s and cover charges for the band?
4) probably doesn’t have an official non profit status nor is working under one.
5) My background in non profits, I would want it documented so I wouldn’t be accused of anything. $53,000 is a lot of money to be carrying around.
6) If I was the officer, I would have to question also. Bad deal all the way around. At worst it is drugs, at best, unreported/untaxed income. Some documentation shows it is collected FOR orphanage, but evidence spent there?
7) Hillary does the same thing but has official non profit to hide behind.
He couldn’t possibly have acquired that sum of cash outside of a drug deal, per their narrative. As handy a citation as charging a person of creating a public disturbance, as it requires no outside objective evidence, just the presence of law enforcement is sufficient.
Also, the judicial districts that encourage seizures, poaching assets from easy marks, know the difficulties of defending against such seizures. The judgements of a star-chamber, judgement upon the corrupt but untouchable within law enforcement, may become the only solution.
“What criminal charge?”
Stumbling into the clutches of the authorities. Banana republics don’t need reasons, just opportunities
The police dog was not euthanized.
Once an animal attacks a human you can no longer trust it. But there are many here who would argue with that and have.
During the Balkans war, I was shocked to learn a business owner I knew there had half a million dollars at his house.
He was smart. The OSCE decided to audit the banks in Hercegovina, and said the audit would take up to seven years.
Accounts were frozen. No money for teacher or police salaries.No money for everyday Joes. They also trashed the interior of the banks.
Bush, March 05, 1991 =>
Asset forfeiture laws allow us to take the ill-gotten gains of drug kingpins and use them to put more cops on the streets and more prosecutors in court.
In the last 5 years alone, the Justice Department shared over half a billion dollars in forfeited assets with State and local law enforcement.
http://bush41library.tamu.edu/archives/public-papers/2764
“Theft by the state.”
Yep, and the police are the state’s henchmen. It’s all about the money.
The War On Drugs (actually a war on the constitution) has done far more damage to this country than drugs ever did or could.
Just found out I can not take a cash credit card advance larger than $500.00 anymore. It makes me wonder if it the government or the bank?
Like to see a K-9 under cross examination.
It’s easy money when you can grab it from some poor sod.
Usually, it’s called Grand Larceny.
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