Posted on 12/21/2007 12:14:30 AM PST by LibWhacker
LIMA — Two robbers who broke into Luther Ricks Sr.’s house this summer may have not gotten his life savings he had in a safe, but after the FBI confiscated it he may not get it back.
Ricks has tried to get an attorney to fight for the $402,767 but he has no money. Lima Police Department officers originally took the money from his house but the FBI stepped in and took it from the Police Department. Ricks has not been charged with a crime and was cleared in a fatal shooting of one of the robbers but still the FBI has refused to return the money, he said.
“They are saying I have to prove I made it,” he said.
The 63-year-old Ricks said he and his wife, Meredith, saved the money during their lifetime in which both worked while living a modest life.
A representative of the FBI could not be reached for comment.
During the fatal shooting incident inside the house June 30, Ricks and his son were being attacked by two men and his son was stabbed. Ricks broke free, grabbed a gun and shot to death 32-year-old Jyhno Rock inside his home at 939 Greenlawn Ave.
Police originally took the money after finding marijuana inside Ricks’ home, which Ricks said he had to help manage pain.
“I smoke marijuana. I have arthritis. I have shingles, a hip replacement,” he said.
Ricks, who is retired from Ohio Steel Foundry, said he always had a safe at home and never had a bank account.
American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio Legal Director Jeff Gamso said Ricks has a tough road ahead, not impossible, but tough to get back his money.
“The law of forfeiture basically says you have to prove you’re innocent. It’s terrible, terrible law,” he said.
The law is tilted in favor of the FBI in that Ricks need not be charged with a crime and the FBI stands a good chance at keeping the money, Gamso said.
“The law will presume it is the result of ill-gotten gains,” he said.
Still Ricks can pursue it and possibly convince a judge he had the money through a lifetime of savings. Asking the FBI usually doesn’t work, he said.
“The FBI, before they would give it up, would want dated receipts,” he said.
If the FBI does keep the money, it would be put toward a law enforcement use, if the city of Lima does not fight for it because the city discovered it, Gamso said.
Lima Law Director Tony Geiger said he has not been asked to stake a legal claim for the money.
The government needs to prove in from of a jury that he obtained the money illegally. Innocent until proven guilty, anything else and the government can take whatever it wants without being held accountable.
People like you are one of the reasons I am voting for Ron Paul.
Why not prosecute the person who has their property confiscated? How can there be proof of property gained from a crime, but not sufficient evidence to prosecute the owner who alleged committed the crime?
I can see perhaps "detaining" property, but only after arresting a suspect.
Congrats on making an empty effort with an empty politician. Seizure requires a set of circumstances, outlined by our legislators, to come into play. Disagree with those circumstances, then get after them on it. None of this pat crap about 'oOooh, I'm gonna vote for Ron Paul so that nothing changes.' This is an activism board, even though many, such as yourself, seem to view it as a 'smug response' board.
>I once was asked by a contractor if I could pay the final $15K to him in cash, so I went to the bank and got the cash for him. Had I been stopped on the way home with the cash, would I have been at risk of having the money seized and tied up in courts for some period of time until I proved where I got the money? What if it was Friday afternoon and the bank closed before I got “caught”?<
No problem, because you would have the bank withdrawl receipt to show the officer where you got the money from.
Welcome to the USSA, comrade. All your property belongs to the government, until you prove otherwise, to our satisfaction.
We’ll let you know what we decide you can keep. Now shut up and get back to work, to pay your taxes.
Anyway, the telling tale in all this is the Federal involvement. You have a situation where the locals may have stumbled onto an ongoing Federal investigation. In case you aren’t aware, a Federal task force operates outside the knowledge of the local police departments. Even though the local police department, SO, and in Ohio, BCI (Bureau of Criminal Investigation) may have members on the Task Force, they do not and CAN NOT share information (intelligence) with their home departments. They sign what I believe was called a 5E letter that was issued by the Federal prosecutor assigned to the case which makes it a Federal Offense to release ANY information gathered during the course of the investigation.
OK, This cold be the investigative scenario. Now you have a TF (task force) looking at a target, could be the son, could be the guy who lives there, could be a third, yet unidentified party that has paid this guy to move the cash south (or any other direction) By the way, most successful drug dealers don’t touch the cash or the drugs themselves, there is always someone else to willing to do it for them.
Again, you’ve got a local agency responding to the report of a man stabbed (the son;) a suspect shot and killed by the homeowner; and a second suspect who is now in custody. The first thing the cops are going to want to know is why did the perps pick these victims? Was this a crime of opportunity or is there more to it? If one of the perps say they were after the cash, there has to be some knowledge OF the cash BY the perp.
If the cash is in the safe, how did the police know to open it? And where was the search warrant to authorize it. Was the safe already open upon the arrival of the police? Then the cash is in plain view and you have a sizable amount of cash, with drugs and weapons on the premises. There is probably a lot more to this than what’s been said.
If the Feds walked in and took the case, it’s because they have a better case. I would guess they are trying to get the guy to roll over on whomever may really own the money. It’s an old trick, catch a big fish by using a smaller fish.
Lastly, I am not making ANY determination on the merits of the case, I wasn’t there, I’m not privy to the facts in evidence, but I CAN say if anyone on this thread thinks this is nothing more than a money grab, they’re wrong. In the hundreds of cases I worked and the thousands of dollars, cars and property I seized, my paycheck remained the same week to week. You may be willing to sell your integrity for a few pieces of silver, but the vast majority of the officers I worked with on Forfeiture and at a Federal Task Force would not...nor would they be tolerated if they did.
Merry Christmas to you all!!!
It would be impossible to prove he earned that money. Unless he filmed the serial number of each bill as he earned it and got a sworn affidavit from the person he earned it from.
Thanks for the details of police work gained from your years of experience.
My question remains unanswered, so I’ll rephrase it. After all is said and done, if they don’t prosecute the owner of the cash for illegally acquiring the cash, then how can they justify taking the cash?
I don’t assume to know the motive for the seizure, but it doesn’t matter what I might guess. The police and FBI should either return the cash or prosecute the guy for illegally acquiring it.
Ok, he probably is a creature of habit. Pays his bills at the same location on a regular schedule. A quick interview with a clerk will establish either A. he pays his bills by cash or B. he buys a money order to pay his bills.
We know he is on a fixed income, he then must get a check issued by his former employer, (Ohio Foundry) We can set a base line of income on an annual basis, plus a salary history. If he has inherited money or sold a home this too, is a matter of public record. If he made any money under the table, he would have to fess up to that, but that’s his problem with IRS. Lastly we have the print date of the bills themselves. There should be a sequence of dates on the bills going back at least a few years.
It would take some work on the part of the detective and some cooperation on the part of the victim, but it is not impossible to determine “reasonable doubt.”
lol!
Show me what in the Constitution would allow this? I agree, horrible.
After the money is “seized” a certified letter is sent to “owner” stating the intent of the state to seize the money as either “proceeds” or “facilitation.” The owner can then state a claim to the cash. From that point forward the investigation continues. Under a civil forfeiture the money is the “suspect” Under a criminal forfeiture, the money is secondary to the underlying criminal offense.
Here we have a situation where there was a “robbery” or “burglary”; a “felonious assault” ( the stabbing of the son); and a “homicide” (the fatal shooting of a suspect.) We also have a drug violation (the marijuana) and over $400,000 in cash.
This isn’t going to be resolved overnight. The initial incident occurred in June, the story doesn’t say when the FBI seized control of the money. I would guess it would take a month or two for the police and the prosecutor to determine if any charges were going to be filed against the homeowner for the homicide. The article also didn’t say what the other perp may have said. Did the other guy intimate it was a drug deal gone bad?
There are too many questions that remain unanswered, but as to the heart of your question, it’s still possible for this guy to be charged at the Federal level. I can tell you from experience the TF cases can take a long time before charges ARE filed. The key to this is the money HASN’T been forfeited. As near as I can tell there has been no court order of forfeiture. The money has been “SEIZED.” A legal distinction sure, but the owner of the money hasn’t lost an interest or a claim to the funds unless or until the COURT ORDERS the forfeiture.
This story WAS written by someone who has no comprehension of how the forfeiture statutes work. Forfeiture is a valuable tool to remove the profit from crime. Most “horror” stories are from those who got their hands caught in the cookie jar.
Hope this helps and if not...tell me what I missed.
Have a great New Year.
I remember seeing a tv show, probably ‘60 minutes’, that told the story of a guy that had saved up and bought a plane or small jet and flew people for money, kind of an air taxi service.
One of his customers, unbeknownst to the pilot, had a suitcase full of drug cash and the authorities moved on the customer and seized the plane of the pilot as well.
They never prosecuted the pilot, but did charge the plane! I think I even saw a copy of the charging sheet (?): “US vs Cessna #....” or some such. They said the guy only had 30 days from the time of the seizure to contest it, else forfeit the property. The kicker was he also had to post a bond or something of 10% of the value of the plane, which the pilot didn’t have.
They never charged the pilot, but they kept the plane. And they dropped charges against the customer with the drug money!
Does that story ring a bell, and have I remembered it correctly? And if I have, did the feds do the right thing? Civil asset forfeiture of the plane, but no offense ("civil offense" ?) charged against the plane's owner?
This nonsense needs to stop. The Feds and every state need to pass legislation requiring a criminal conviction of a suspect as a first step in pursuing an asset forfeiture claim against assets seized from that suspect. The government shouldn't be able to get a dime until after they have proven the person guilty of the crime the government says the money was earned from or facilitated by.
You missed the point.
I have a couple of water cooler jugs full of all the spare change I take out of my pockets every day for over ten years, I figure something like 150 pounds or more of loose change, my piggy bank and emergency funds backup when the times get rough, I get sick or injured. No way anyone can tell me I cannot hoard money. Not until all wars are past history, I have a secure job with health care and my taxes are not making me lose the income I need to be as little as possible to be debt free.
The banks want us to be in debt, they want us to pay interest on loans, they want to use our money so they can make more money.
The whole planet goes tits-up one day and all those funds tied up in banks will useless for our personal survival.
I know my plans and its to be as self sufficient as possible, do not trust banks for one.Keep a minimal amount in the bank, keep handy cash at home for any emergencies and consider investing in gold or buillon.
Yes, the inappropriately-named Bank Secrecy Act, Patriot Act, and many others.
Most are actually Treasury and IRS Regs. (thanks to the war on some drugs and some people).
I believe the 30 day requirement refers to the pilot/owner filing an interest in the aircraft. A lot of times people will walk away from the cash and/or the property just so they don’t get dragged into an investigation. For some dealers losing a car to forfeiture was just the cost of doing business.
Again, drug dealers adapt just as police agencies do. After losing many cars to LE agencies due to forfeiture laws, the dealers started renting cars. When the mule was stopped, the drugs would be found and the car seized. But since the owner of the vehicle was a rental agency and the owner had no knowledge of the use of the car, the vehicle would be returned to the rental car company with the admonition that if the RENTOR was picked up in one of their vehicles again with a quantity of drugs, the forfeiture would go forward. This would force the rental car companies to flag certain customers to make sure they couldn’t rent cars again. A national “blacklist” if you may.
The drug king pins then started buying the buy-here pay-here lots and using dealer tags to move the drugs. The excuse would be “I bought the car at auction in Texas and I had no knowledge it was being used to transport drugs to Detroit”....Right...They would have the auction paperwork and the car was returned. These were a little tougher to crack, but they were.
I’ve read case histories where scenarios involving aircraft like the one you mentioned were involved. I also seem to remember that there were times that a bond was required, but I honestly can’t say for certain because I never seized an airplane.
As an aside, USA Today used to publish the legal notice of intent to forfeiture and also the case dispositions. Remember, a third party could legally make a claim against the governments interest in property or currency.
The problem with this story is everyone is making assumptions without having all the facts at hand.
I won a few cases and I lost a few. The ones I won didn’t benefit me directly (I didn’t get a cut of the funds) and the ones I lost just made me work harder to cover the bases that caused the case to go south. I’ve also done investigations that returned to property to the owner because we couldn’t PROVE the item was proceeds or facilitation.
I played it straight and I think the guys I worked with (financial investigators) did as well.
Working a financial case isn’t easy, it takes a ton of paperwork, interviews, and attention to detail. At the end of the day, you may not be able to prove the case, but you didn’t cut corners or juice the evidence to get there.
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