Posted on 08/25/2007 12:32:37 PM PDT by microgood
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — A trucker has sued the Drug Enforcement Administration, seeking to get back nearly $24,000 seized by DEA agents earlier this month at a weigh station on U.S. 54 in New Mexico north of El Paso, Texas.
Anastasio Prieto of El Paso gave a state police officer at the weigh station permission to search the truck to see if it contained "needles or cash in excess of $10,000," according to the American Civil Liberties Union, which filed the federal lawsuit Thursday.
Prieto told the officer he didn't have any needles but did have $23,700.
Officers took the money and turned it over to the DEA. DEA agents photographed and fingerprinted Prieto over his objections, then released him without charging him with anything.
Border Patrol agents searched his truck with drug-sniffing dogs, but found no evidence of illegal substances, the ACLU said.
The lawsuit alleges the defendants violated Prieto's right to be free of unlawful search and seizure by taking his money without probable cause and by fingerprinting and photographing him.
"Mere possession of approximately $23,700 does not establish probable cause for a search or seizure," the lawsuit said.
It said Prieto pulled into the weigh station about 10:30 a.m. Aug. 8 and was let go about 4 p.m.
DEA agents told Prieto he would receive a notice of federal proceedings to permanently forfeit the money within 30 days and that to get it back, he'd have to prove it was his and did not come from illegal drug sales.
They told him the process probably would take a year, the ACLU said.
The ACLU's New Mexico executive director, Peter Simonson, said Prieto needs his money now to pay bills and maintain his truck. The lawsuit said Prieto does not like banks and customarily carries his savings as cash.
"The government took Mr. Prieto's money as surely as if he had been robbed on a street corner at night," Simonson said. "In fact, being robbed might have been better. At least then the police would have treated him as the victim of a crime instead of as a perpetrator."
The DEA did not immediately respond Friday to a request for comment from The Associated Press.
Peter Olson, a spokesman for the Department of Public Safety, which oversees state police, said he could not comment on pending litigation.
The lawsuit names DEA Administrator Karen P. Tandy, DEA task force officer Gary T. Apodaca, DEA agent Joseph Montoya and three state police officers identified only as John or Jane Doe.
I strongly disagree. The Founders wrote the Constitution in plain, accessible language and waged very public arguments in the newspapers for it and against it. They intended the People the be supreme as befits a Republican form of government -- which means that Joe Blow's interpretation of the Constitution is ultimately more important than that of the courts.
Judges are our representatives, and we have the right to throw them out via our legislative represenatives if we believe they interpret the Constitution incorrectly. We also have the right to throw out the entire system of government if it infringes on our rights too severely. That's what a Republic means.
Thank you so much for the information and the links. I’ve never had a cop ask to search me, and I don’t have anything to hide. However, I want to assert my rights if it ever happens. I greatly appreciate your help.
The US governement is out of control. These agants should be tried and executed for their crimes.
I had an uncle who distrusted banks and regularly carried thousands with him. He was a straightlaced as one can be and yet, I’m guessing his cash would have been seized if he’d ever been stopped for a broken tail light or something.
The ACLU took a long time to get involved in this issue.
RICO laws have been on the books for almost 20 years.
ping
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