Posted on 06/23/2005 7:36:33 AM PDT by Quick1
A Quincy woman carrying $46,950 in cash through Logan International Airport claims she was on the way to see a Texas plastic surgeon when federal drug agents seized the money she planned to use for a procedure on her buttocks and breasts. ``The agent looked at my buttocks and told me that I do not need an operation,'' Ileana Valdez, 26, told a federal court yesterday in an affidavit contending she got the cash from selling her Dorchester business and two homes. Valdez claims a male agent from the Drug Enforcement Agency asked her to take off her clothes to show her rear end. She refused but let a female officer examine her.
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``My businesses have all been legitimate. I have often worked two jobs to support myself and my family,'' said the single mother of a 4-year-old son. Her Boston attorney, Tony V. Blaize, said Valdez has no criminal record and may have been unfairly targeted by Drug Enforcement Agents because her passport shows she was born in the Dominican Republic and became a U.S. citizen in 1995. ``It's just sad they can associate money with drugs without having anything else,'' Blaize said. ``They're putting the burden on her to prove it's not drug money.'' Blaize filed a claim against the DEA yesterday demanding return of the cash agents seized on Feb. 3, 2005, when Valdez's money belt set off airport metal detectors. DEA Special Agent Anthony Pettigrew said, ``This is her version of events on that day. When there's a hearing, DEA will present its version of what happened on that day.'' Federal law allows agents to seize assets so criminals do not profit from their crimes. If the money is returned, no interest is paid. ``The agent tried to get me to admit that the money was drug related. I refused because it is not,'' Valdez told the court. ``I have never used, sold or trafficked drugs or any other substance.''
The government has been doing this in recent years and is has to stop.
I'm not generally a lawsuit-friendly type of person, but I think she ought to sue the DEA and that agent personally. Using his position of authority to ask her to strip for him is really what puts this over the top. This guy shouldn't be anywhere near a position of authority if he can't handle the responsibility. How many of you guys would have beat the living hell out of him if he'd looked over your wife's body, told her it was nice, then asked her to take off her clothes?
WOD nets government $47,000
"You know nothing of this, so how can you say that?"
I should have said, "My guess is...". I agree with your point, though. Regardless of what I suspect she was up to, the DEA had no grounds to do what they did. There is not (that I'm aware of), nor should there be any law against carrying $50K on a interstate flight. I suspect (yet again :)) that the DEA saw the same red flags as me and got trigger happy. That's not good. Still, I think her story is smelly.
There was a trial, I presume. A jury selected, evidence presented, deliberations and then a verdict? Or was this done Soviet-style?
Maybe she was having them gold-plated. A little chrome trim, et cetera...
I think she is a victim of an oppressive government.
Thanks to asset forfeiture laws (WOD) you must prove your innocence to recover your property from the thieves with badges.
ol' hoghead
Where do you suppose one obtains a money belt capable of holding $50K in cash? I'm doubting she picked it up at the local Wal-Mart.
You know, I can see everyone's agruement about the DEA and their actions. Still, her story stinks to high-hell and everybody here knows it. The DEA SURE knows it. I don't necessarily like the way they are allowed to do business but excuse me for smiling because I know some drug guy in Texas ain't getting paid.
If anybody here really believed her story, they would be ripping her a new one for blowing all her assets on cosmetic surgery instead of taking care of her 4-year-old.
If it were primarily in 100 dollar bills, it would be 500 banknotes. Not too big, easily fitting in a fanny pack.
The interesting thing, aside from the government creating a crime out of carrying cash, is that the article said metal detectors tipped the feds off. I sincerely doubt she was carrying change in there, so perhaps it was the 'strip' in the bills that alerted the stasi to the money.
Maybe she sewed it herself. What difference does it make? What really stinks to high heaven are the cowards who are willing to rationalize these government actions. Search and seizure actions are being used to shake people down on a regular basis. Corrupt police departments have been doing this in Texas for years now. People are being stopped by local cops and losing their cars and their cash on flimsy pretenses.
If you have to hire a lawyer and pay a few thousand dollars bond to recover a few hundred bucks that was seized, it is the same as highway robbery.
Don't think that just because they are government agents, they are honest men. We fought a war to get our constitution. Do we have to do it again to get it back?
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