Judge orders $1M returned to woman who says she earned it as exotic dancer

[The Straight Story]

Judge orders $1M returned to woman who says she earned it as exotic dancer


LINCOLN, Neb. — A federal judge has ordered the government to return more than $1 million seized in a traffic stop to a California woman – plus interest.

Tasha Mishra, of Rancho Cucamonga, Calif., sued earlier this year after Nebraska officials seized the $1,074,900 in cash that she says was her life savings earned over years as an exotic dancer.

U.S. District Judge Joseph Bataillon said in an opinion this week that government lawyers failed to prove the money was connected to illegal drugs, as it had claimed.

A Nebraska state trooper seized the money in a March 3 traffic stop. Two people in the car were released without charges, but officers kept the money, saying a police dog indicated drug residue on the cash.

http://www.kansascity.com/2013/07/20/4356842/judge-order-1m-returned-to-woman.html

[flamingdem]

1. Was it all $1.00 bills?

Inquiring minds want to know.

[etherealtruth]

2. Isn't there "drug residue" on almost all paper money in circulation?

It is irrelevant how she legally earned the money

[Nay]

10. Yes. nt

[tumtum]

30. I've heard that.

So I wonder how many people were arrested because a drug dog alerted because of the smell of drugs on their money?

[Nye Bevan]

3. Most cash has drug residue.

Civil forfeiture is an abomination. The cops should be required to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that money to be forfeited is the proceeds of crime.

[petronius]

19. +1 - "Abomination" is one of many appropriate words here

I have never understood how even one court could get behind this legalized thievery, or how any LEO involved in it could retain his self-respect...

[WinkyDink]

4. But male billionaires get no such search-and-seizures.

[The Straight Story]

5. They don't often carry cash, it is all virtual money in banks and on cards (nt)

[bluestate10]

12. I doubt that most billionaires even walk around with cash cards on them, in

particular if they are well known or live at ritzy addresses. I know this opens me up to a boot licker of the 1% attack, but there is a reason why people in that group hire assistants and have services pay their bills.

[tabasco]

6. A bunch of that money came from judges

Bet your ass.

[bluestate10]

7. So, if a customer has smoked weed or snorted coke before putting the bill into the

dancers garter, the cops can take ALL of her money? I am no fan of banks, but I don't think it's rational to drive around with a million bucks in your car.

[The Straight Story]

9. David Copperfield had 2 million seized he kept in a safe (maybe)

Because it was in cash.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x2088722

The FBI later denied they took it....
http://seattletimes.com/html/localnews/2003965006_copperfield21m.html

Still not sure what happened

[bluestate10]

11. He wasn't driving it around in a car. What would happen had she got robbed? nt

[The Straight Story]

13. Well, allow me to answer that

I have posed this scenario in other ways before as well.

Example: I know the marathon station here is a haven for drug dealers and the like. If I ride my bike there I take it in with me. If I leave it outside and it is stolen what blame would I share?

The question is: Do we 'blame' the victim? If you walk around alone at night in an area you know to be bad and get raped/robbed is it your fault? If you walk into the store and leave your car unlocked and cash all over the front seat - do you share responsibility?

If your country is attacked and you knowingly interfered in other countries and caused millions in those places much pain, who is to blame for the attack you suffered?

[Mariana]

34. She DID get robbed.

She was very fortunate that she was able to recover her stolen property.

[1monster]

24. Let's make sure that we post the fact that the woman who made the accusation against

Copperfield was later arrested and charged with making false accusations against ANOTHER man.

The master illusionist was accused of imprisoning and assaulting a woman at his Bahamas home. He was interviewed by the FBI and state prosecutors during a two year investigation but no charges were ever brought.

His accuser, former beauty queen Lacey Carroll, was later arrested for making false sexual assault allegations against another man.

He said: 'To be falsely accused of something that horrendous is a devastating thing for yourself, your friends, you family, really bad.


'When the truth comes out - you know she was arrested, not me - finally things you know come to light. Unfortunately, in the press, what happens is...'

Winfrey interjected: 'People remember the charge. They don’t remember the exoneration."

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2174429/David-Copperfield-breaks-silence-sexual-assault-allegations-threatened-ruin-career.html

[Politicalboi]

14. Hey you could be on to something there

I wonder if the police brought their drug dogs into a bank vault could they take all the money too because the dogs were alerted to drugs on the money. Corporations are people my friends. Why not seize the money. LOL! And yes in this day and age you have to be crazy to drive around with even $5,000 in cash, let alone a million.

[woolldog]

33. Maybe she was on the way to the bank

when she got stopped.

[tritsofme]

8. I'm glad she got her money back, but I think she will be getting a call from the IRS.

[brooklynite]

23. Why?

Any indication she hasn't been filing tax returns?

[tritsofme]

29. Yea, what was I thinking?

I'm sure every single was reported.

[Mariana]

37. WTF is with people on this thread assuming

that this woman MUST have cheated on her taxes, even if she did earn the money as a dancer? I'm glad you pointed out there's no indication of such.

For all we know, she used her tax returns in court to prove that she earned the money legitimately.

[brooklynite]

38. Some people don't trust banks...

I believe some people here fall into that category.

[Mojo Electro]

15. What a joke...

Almost all currency has "drug residue"...

"Asset forfeiture" is just a way to legally rob people to fund the so-called "drug war"

I can only imagine the huge boner these cops got from seeing that cash.

They had to pay it back with interest, too. That's awesome!

[malaise]

16. Tugging thieves

[hunter]

17. Wow. Who was she dancing for? Mitt Romney???

Did she have to wear a farm animal costume?

[pinboy3niner]

18. If the cops want that kind of money, they should just go out and earn it themselves...

[Warren DeMontague]

20. That must have been very frustrating for the police. Sigh.

What's the world coming to when you can't just take anything and everything you happen to find under the rubric of the "war on drugs"?

[alittlelark]

31. +1,000

[JoeyT]

32. +1 n/t

[Liberal_in_LA]

21. good

[Scurrilous]

22. K & R

[Heywood J]

25. A good start. It needs to be applied as precedent elsewhere. (NT)

[Lil Missy]

26. good

[MrScorpio]

27. Talk about highway robbery... nt

[Travis_0004]

28. I wonder if they looked into her tax returns

If she didn't claim high income in the last couple years, she might be brought up on tax fraud charges if she had 1 million on her she claimed she earned.

[Mariana]

36. Or, maybe she brought her income tax returns

into court as evidence that she did, in fact, earn the money.

[RandiFan1290]

35. Just trying to get dangerous cash off the streets!

Under Asset Forfeiture Law, Wisconsin Cops Confiscate Families' Bail Money

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/20/asset-forfeiture-wisconsin-bail-confiscated_n_1522328.html

When the Brown County, Wis., Drug Task Force arrested her son Joel last February, Beverly Greer started piecing together his bail.

She used part of her disability payment and her tax return. Joel Greer's wife also chipped in, as did his brother and two sisters. On Feb. 29, a judge set Greer's bail at $7,500, and his mother called the Brown County jail to see where and how she could get him out. "The police specifically told us to bring cash," Greer says. "Not a cashier's check or a credit card. They said cash."

So Greer and her family visited a series of ATMs, and on March 1, she brought the money to the jail, thinking she'd be taking Joel Greer home. But she left without her money, or her son.

Instead jail officials called in the same Drug Task Force that arrested Greer. A drug-sniffing dog inspected the Greers' cash, and about a half-hour later, Beverly Greer said, a police officer told her the dog had alerted to the presence of narcotics on the bills -- and that the police department would be confiscating the bail money.