Drug warriors are directly responsible for the largest loss of liberty for Americans than just about any other group.
Posted on 05/01/2014 8:50:48 AM PDT by bkopto
Iowa City police seized $48,000 in cash from a Minnesota couple during a traffic stop in March. They want it back – but that’s been proving difficult, the Iowa City Press-Citizen reports.
The publication says Kearnice C. Overton, of St. Paul, was pulled over March 16 for speeding. Overton’s kids were in the car at the time. Police say a K-9 signal gave them the authority to search the car, the Press-Citizen reports. So they did, found the $48,000 in cash, and seized it.
Overton says he got the money from his wife, Tiffani D.S. Barber, to buy some property in Iowa; he drove down there, the deal fell through so he was on his way home. Barber and Overton filed a petition stating the money was wrongly seized – no charges were filed, Overton was not arrested, and he claims it wasn’t illegally earned – and they want it back, the Press-Citizen reports.
But things have become more complicated: The Press-Citizen now reports the cash is part of a federal investigation.
According to the paper, court documents filed Monday show the money is no longer being held by Iowa authorities – but the files offer no details on what the federal investigation is about.
The Press-Citizen notes a hearing regarding the seized cash is still set for May 6.
A similar story of police seizure turned out well for a Moorhead woman.
WCCO reported on a tip received by waitress Stacy Knutson back in 2012 – rolls of cash, left in a box at a table she was serving, totaling $12,000.
The mother of five called police to notify them, the station reported; police said they’d hold it for 90 days in case it was claimed. But when Knutson tried to get it back, she was told it was now being held as drug money.
In April, Knutson’s attorney said Moorhead police had agreed to give back the entire sum, the station reported. Last year, The New Yorker published a lengthy piece about civil forfeiture and its increased use across the country.
Seizing illicitly-gained money can be appealing, the publication noted, because it can oftentimes be used right away by law enforcement to help combat crime.
“In Tulsa, Oklahoma, cops drive a Cadillac Escalade stenciled with the words ‘This Used To Be a Drug Dealer’s Car, Now It’s Ours!”” the piece said. “In Monroe, North Carolina, police recently proposed using forty-four thousand dollars in confiscated drug money to buy a surveillance drone … “
And unlike a criminal forfeiture, which can only happen if a person is convicted, a civil forfeiture can occur even if you haven’t been found guilty.
They can’t search anything locked without a warrant.
Make them get the warrant. And don’t give the dog something to smell.
The judge is on the side of the cops, so they let the cops say it's true.
OTOH, the it's the jury's job to judge the facts, the laws and the application of the laws.
While the judges may be predisposed to rubber-stamp the actions of the goons in blue, er, cops, it's the jury who is supposed to act as the moral compass to prevent government oppression.
I used to dodge jury duty. Now I've had a change of heart and want desperately to be called to jury duty where I will be the government's worst nightmare. If called, I will serve and will put their every word and deed under an intense microscope. I will presume the accused to be innocent and the government to be corrupt and will vote to convict only if I am convinced beyond all doubt (reasonable doubt are the weasel words the government uses) that the accused is guitly and that the law is just and that the application of it was fair and reasonable.
I know for a fact that the government does not follow the evidence to convict the guity party, but follows their 'hunches' to gather the evidence to convict who they believe committed the crime.
Right, but stuff that’s locked away in the car still requires a warrant, unless things have changed.
Why is their car any different than their home? Please, the cops just wanted to loot the public so they could by some more Wanna Be Rambo toys. MRAPS, M-16 etc...
The probably had the family cat with them. So the K-9 got anxious, etc.
It doesn’t take that much.
A dog dedicated to pleasing its human can READ the handler. It doesn’t matter whether the handler’s prompt is conscious or unconscious, the dog is gonna “signal.”
If you get caught with more than 10K cash they can take it.
This is not anything new. Lesson here is do travel with that much cash unless you are willing to fight to get it back.
I don’t know where you live, but consider yourself lucky. Where I live it is routine to have dogs check your vehicle.
Yeah. Going back to the dog. My dog alerts on the car all the time - road kill spatter, mmm.
Dogs pick up on the handlers’ cues, conscious or unconscious. The dog alerting should be absolutely worthless as evidence to seize money or property, without other evidence. It should be of very limited worth in acquiring a warrant either.
You just have to be very innocuous when it comes to filling out the questionnaire and answering attorneys’ questions.
When I had small children and couldn’t serve I would get a jury summons every year. I haven’t had a summons in years - I have an exemption as an EMT but I never checked that off.
SAaaaaaaay? Isn’t every penny earned by an illegal alien ill gotten gains and therefore available for confiscation by the PoPo?
Usually, drug dealers don’t fight for the money.
If someone does fight for it, they have to prove where they got it. If they can’t, the government wants their share. That’s why you have to get creative about it.
Driving around with $48k of undocumented cash today is just ignorant.
You claimed that he had “no credible reason” to have a large amount of cash. Yet, the article stated that he was going to purchase property. Since when is it illegal to purchase anything with cash?
Its not all about drug money. Many of these casers go back a lot further. It is about large cash transactions. Many businesses used to buy stock with cash. I remember reading about a man who owned a nursery that got caught with over 10K back in the 70’s. Cash sales are highly profitable.
The parking lot at my place of work is often used for traffic stops. I have seen this scenario play out hundreds of times.
The drug dog always indicates the presence of drugs (at least where I live).
Theres a difference between credible and legal. No one said it was illegal to carry that amount of cash, but for those individuals to do that they did was - as I said not wise, prudent or smart.
Look at each and every comment on this thread. While we all agree these morons had a legal right to do what they did, not a single solitary FReeper has claimed that they too would also drive around the country with $48,000 in cash because the real estate deal fell through.
Carrying that amount of cash is strange, but not illegal. It is well known that US $100 bills frequently have traces of illegal drugs so it would not be far fetched that the dog would take notice.
Drug warriors are directly responsible for the largest loss of liberty for Americans than just about any other group.
Freshly printed money coming straight from the federal reserve has traces of cocaine on it. (it is claimed by the fed that this is the result of residue in counting machinery) This has been verified multiple times. Large amounts of ca$h will cause a drug dog to 'alert' and the jackboots to drool over your cash. Most likely, the money alerted on the money itself. This hasn't been a constitutional republic for decades.
This was from Las Vegas. $50,000 all caught on dash cam video. You won’t believe your eyes and ears.
http://www.8newsnow.com/category/28259/8-news-now-video?autoStart=true&topVideoCatNo=default&clipId=10106508
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