Posted on 09/14/2002 5:31:08 PM PDT by Dubya
Sharp police work, a burned-out license light and a sweet scent led law enforcement officers in Ellis County to more than $400,000 hidden in an SUV, authorities said Friday.
The money, wrapped in fabric-softener sheets and then in plastic, was found soon after the driver of the sport utility vehicle slammed on his brakes when a patrol car passed him on Interstate 35 near the small town of Italy about 11 p.m. Thursday, investigators said.
The sudden braking made passing officer Micheal Adams of Milford suspicious, so he radioed for nearby Italy police Sgt. Vance Griffin to look for a reason to stop the 1994 Blazer.
Griffin found it: a burned-out light over the back license plate.
One passenger in the truck told converging officers that a second passenger was his brother, Italy Police Chief Shana Miller said.
The second passenger, questioned separately, said he had no idea who the first man was, Miller said.
Meanwhile, she said, as officers continued to get "conflicting stories" from all three men in the Blazer, state trooper Monty Dirickson noticed a "funny odor" like soap coming from the tailgate.
Or, more precisely, fabric softener.
Given permission to search the truck, officers peeled off the inside panel of the tailgate and a front-door panel and found $415,394, wrapped neatly in 81 bundles, each containing a dryer sheet of fabric softener, Miller said. Investigators suspect that the sheets were an effort to ward off police dogs trained to sniff out illicit drug money, Miller said.
(Excerpt) Read more at dfw.com ...
Not at all. A court of law will determine whether the accused are guilty or not. If they are innocent then they will have their personal property returned promptly.
Guess again.
Very often it is tainted by drug residue, which the dogs can then detect.
This is completely bogus. There is detectable cocaine on almost every bill in the US.
When did racketeering and money-laundering become illegal, too?
You contradict yourself. The presumption had to be guilt, or the property would not be taken (and would not need returning in the case of being found innocent).
Yes, Mohammed Atta and crew were all drug dealers with lots of cash. Too bad we didn't pull everybody over and catch them that way. Sigh. When will we ever learn?
jJust out of curiosity, what was the time and location of your "its the princable" stanse? I just want to make sure you were not the reason my former husband died because the "thin blue line" was overstretched on that particular night, and were unable to commit urgently needed assets to save his life.
Actions=consequences.Glad you had fun with your spare time.If not my nightmare, I am certain a thorough investigation would show you contributed to someone else's.Pat yourself on the back!
They don't do regular police work. Just traffic stops.
He would have been harrasing others if I did'nt tie him up.
BTW he was wasting his time harrasing me. I just made it take more time. You want to complain, complain about cops not persuing real crime.
She was allowed to sign over any rights to the money and the truck, and then just let go.
It sure seems like an easy way to bribe you way out of trouble.
Skip an element if you feel the need, but two out of three would ease my mind, protect your privacy, and answer the basic question I asked of you.
The article didn't mention that they had been charged with anything. They probably haven't been, and won't be, be charged with anything. Any charges brought under property forfeiture laws ar usually in the form of 'State vs. $400,000.00 in cash' or a similar case name. You will have to go to court and prove that the cash or other propertyis innocent of criminal involvement in order to have it returned.
Proving that confiscated property, particularly cash, is innocent of criminal involvement is almost impossible. There are usually impossible to overcome obstacles involved (such as posting the full claimed value of the property in cash bond), long drawn out legal proceedings that end up costing more than the value of the property if you manage to win, and impossible standards of proof of innocence.
In short, if a cop stops you on the street, finds you with cash, takes the cash (even fifty or a hundred bucks sometimes), you can just kisss it goodbye. Honest citizens have no business being in possession of large amounts of cash (and 50 or 100 is a large amount in some circumstances, like if you are black) and the money is presumed guilty until proven innocent.
Somehow, I just knew this would end up with Clintons direct involvemement at some point in the chronology of it all.
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