ACLU sues DEA on behalf of trucker whose money was seized

[douglas9]

Source: Houston Chronicle/Associated Press

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

Read more: http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/tx/5081398.html

[ThomCat]

1. Wow. The rich carry cards. Only the poor carry cash.

So it's becoming a crime to have cash.
x(

Again and again, things are criminalized not because there's a crime involved but because it's poor people doing it.

I'm glad the ACLU is stepping in on this. I wonder how often the State Police and DEA get away with this?

[benddem]

2. might be a good idea

to edit your subject. I had a hard time trying to figure out how suing for a truck would work. Smile

[Th1onein]

3. They are THIEVES. He shouldn't have to PROVE anything.

The burden of proof should be on THEM, not him. It's not against the law to carry cash, even large amounts of it. This is such a bullshit law; I'm glad to see the ACLU finally challenging it.

Those sorry bastards.

[jayfish]

6. Now Is Not The Time To Challenge This.

Hell, it's not the time to challenge much of anything. This SCOTUS will surely rule in favor of law enforcement and we'll be stuck with the consequences for 50 years.

Jay

[Zhade]

34. Yeah, let's wait to do the right thing.

:eyes:

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

36. Cue: Robin Hood.

Is it the 15th fucking century around here? :shrug:

[TreasonousBastard]

4. Deleted-- dupe

[TreasonousBastard]

5. This bullshit's been going on for years, and I remember...

the really nasty case of a grandmother heading up to South Carolina to buy furniture for her granddaughter's wedding. On the way, some Georgia sheriff stopped her and found about 25 grand in the car and impounded it. Took her years of lawsuits and she ended up getting maybe half back.

If you have too much cash on you, it's assumed you are doing a drug deal, and the burden of proof is on you to prove you aren't. This is thanks to a bullshit 80s Federal drug law and local cops can impound your cash, your car, and anything else they feel like and it's theirs.

[alfredo]

8. A friend of mine nearly lost his 650 acre farm because some

wild hemp was growing on his property. Our area was a big producer of hemp in years past and it grows wild everywhere.

[briancic]

9. bull

b.s

[Dora]

10. prove it

[alfredo]

11. It's true. We had a lot of seizures of property here in Ky

during the late 80's and early 90's.

Our region was one of the largest suppliers of hemp during the 1st and 2nd world wars and a lot of it went feral.

What saved my friend was that there was no sign of cultivation and the local police were convinced that it was indeed wild hemp.

[liberal renegade]

12. 99% of all farms and country homes

could be seized in Nebraska.... The stuff is everywhere....

[alfredo]

13. Many a person have been disappointed by Nebraska ditch weed.

Around here, you have to go to the mountains in the east to find anything other than hemp growing. When moonshine was stamped out, locals turned to weed. When the National Guard and DEA ended that, they went to pills, Oxycotin and crank.

There's still shine to be found, and the weed went underground in suburban basements throughout the state.

When my dad was a young man he was out hunting with a friend. During their hunt they came across a still. they looked it over, tasted a sample and went on.

When they got back to the store where they parked their car. The owner told them that he knew they found the still. He said they were lucky they didn't destroy it because there were armed people up the hill watching them. They would have been treated as if they were Revenuers. I wouldn't be here today.

[formercia]

24. It grows wild in Kansas

left over from WWII farm production. At fort Riley, we used to use it for camouflage on our helmets. We were warned that it wouldn't get you high but the penalty was the same.

[alfredo]

25. That's why we hated the seizure laws. Corrupt lawmen with an axe

to grind against a neighbor could use the seizure laws to take down a rival. Remember too, the proceeds from the sale (as I remember) of seized property goes to the local authorities who seized the property. That's asking for wholesale corruption.

A lot of land was seized, and in too many cases, no charges were filed, but the land never returned to the rightful owner. The law had no provisions for the return of property if no charges were filed or the accused found innocent.

[proud2BlibKansan]

32. And it really sucks

I went to college in Emporia and there were more than a few kids there who tried to sell ditch weed and make money off of it.

[formercia]

39. I bet they didn't have many repeat customers.

except for the ones who confuse a carbon monoxide overdose with THC.

[HeeBGBz]

41. Wild in Missouri too

North of Kansas City you see it growing at the sides of the highways.

[Warren Stupidity]

23. wow that is a great first post

you are sure to impress many here with your style.

[panzerfaust]

29. W: Very well thought out and articulated.

Good Job! Reflects well on your Ivy League education.

Welcome to the DU ... but does uncle Dickie know that you are not napping?

[proud2BlibKansan]

33. LOL what an entrance

Planning on staying long?

:rofl:

[HeeBGBz]

40. What an informative first post

No one even has a clue what you are bs-ing about. Which part?

Welcome to DU.

[proud2BlibKansan]

35. We lived next to a field where it grew wild and the local teenagers found it

and they would come harvest it. Dumb kids would come in the middle of the day, park their cars in front of our house, walk through our yard, pick a bunch of wild hemp and carry the long stalks back to their cars and then drive away.

We watched this little ritual every summer and just laughed. Then I guess one of our neighbors or someone else who saw them alerted the police. And one summer afternoon, the teenagers came and picked their weed, drove away and the cops met them at the corner. I can't remember a time when I saw so many cop cars. For ditch weed.

The cops went up and down the street and interviewed all of us, wanting to know how long these kids had been doing this. They asked my DH and I why we had never called the cops and reported this. I said "For ditch weed? I figured you guys had more important real crimes to investigate."

[ProudDad]

7. End the phony "war on drugs" (n/t)

[Imagevision]

14. Officers took the money then released him without charging him with anything!!

[entanglement]

15. Not the first time such an outrage has occured...glad to see the ACLU take on the DEA thugs

[truedelphi]

16. Anopther reason why I'll vote for Satan in 2008

The country already has gone to Hell...

[AX10]

17. The DEA is a terrorist organization.

Constitution hating PIGS! :puke:

[Nevernose]

18. They tried "arresting" money in Vegas a few years ago.

At the airport. Didn't go over too well :). Geniuses, I tell ya -- frigging GENIUSES.

A Latino truck driver in New Mexico, though? That's one poor bastard who won't ever see his money again. The courts will screw him eventually. Banks, we can sort of trust. Our government...?

[pitohui]

19. a few years ago? they still do it

i know of a lady who just recently had her cash seized departing LAS and i was surprised that she was able to get (most) of it back in just a few months, i guess she has a good attorney

knowing of several people who have had their cash seized, you can't get it back w.out a good lawyer, and you won't get back all of it, but you can at least reach some kind of settlement and get some of your own money back -- the ones who had less legal power behind them of course never saw the $$$ again

[Nevernose]

20. I had no idea

When they started "arresting money" -- what was it? 10? 15 years ago? -- there were a couple of high-profile incidents in Las Vegas, and then the solemn oath that the feds would stop messing with tourists (question: was your friend a tourist going home, or a resident leaving home? It doesn't really make a difference to me, but it might to the feds).

Little known fact: Vegas has always been the North American capitol of counterfeiting, earning us our own Secret Service branch back in the 60s, then the smallest town to get its own branch. The meth trade exploded here in the early 90s, bringing in more illicit cash. More recently international smuggling has arrived through the traditionally sleepy, formerly domestic airport -- last year a schoolteacher was arrested for being a heroin mule during her Spring Break vacation. I guess that's what happens when you pay the teachers poorly. Supplemental income and all of that. (Also interesting since heroin's much bigger in the NE and NW than it is here, meaning this is becoming a routing port as opposed to a destination).

Anyway, I'm glad your friend got at least SOME of her money back. And your post illustratesthe American Justice system very well: the quality of your bankroll often determines the quality of your attorney (actually, public defenders are often better than private attorneys and usually get a bad rap, but that's a whole 'nother topic).

[pitohui]

21. it happens so routinely now that i suppose it doesn't make the news

i'm not aware of any press reports of these seizures, i know a lot of gamblers because i used to work for a blackjack team, so i hear these stories from other teams or occasionally from former teammates -- i was lucky and never had my cash interfered with when i was working but it was a constant worry and stress since you are not just feeling the responsibility to protect the cash for yourself but for the others on the team

in answer to your question she would be considered a tourist, since she flies in and out of vegas (and other gambling destinations) to play for the blackjack team, she doesn't live there there, it is too hard to get a game if you stay in one place, you have to keep moving

this lady's roll was actually the largest of someone i know personally to be seized, i'm forgetting how much, but it was $50 or $60K, something like that

they did not believe she was on a gambling team because she was a woman, or at least they pretended not to believe it to give themselves a chance to grab the money, since it was quite easy to prove that she was, they should never have held the $$$ more than a few hours, but at first it looked like it would be touch and go whether she would get it back at all

the smallest amt i know of personallly to be seized was $8K, the kid did get it back, rich dad, probably really dad's money, altho it might normally be too small of an amount to pursue the dad got a lawyer and pursued it as a matter of pride, just to keep the cops from keeping the money, they won too

oh, and the enabling legislation to allow for forfeiture of money (arresting money) was pushed through during the reagan years, but not immediately pursued in nevada for whatever reason, politics or pay-off, who knows, eventually tho it became too outrageous that this was going on in all the other states and they start pursuing it actively there as well

[Nevernose]

22. Tip-off?

It wouldn't surprise me if the casino hadn't tipped off the feds. These are the people who pioneered facial recognition, after all, and have allegedly recently perfected it. It would be quicker and easier to exact revenge -- and especially deliver a warning -- by tipping the feds to large amounts of cash than it would be to deal with it themselves.

I know for a fact that sometimes whales who owe money get followed home. If you're truly a "big-time" gambler in Vegas (a lot of people think they are, but few biggies actually are), they know where you live, where your kids go to school, where your wife's parents go on vacation... And they have bruisers on every continent willing to kick your ass until you pay up.

The mob still runs things, it's just not as obvious as it used to be and they don't put a quota on the little guys anymore.

Also, it's Nevada: when it come to "politics or pay-offs," whenever you're referencing a Nevada pol OTHER than Harry Reid, the answer is inevitably "pay-off."

[pitohui]

37. the mob doesn't still run things

if it was casino tip offs, i would have myself been targeted, i honestly think it's just random rogues

casino consolidation means that the industry belongs to big corps not the mob

oh, and facial recognition doesn't work, or at least the cheapo brand used by casino surveillance doesn't -- i know of an asian (i'm a white blonde) who was ID'd as myself by facial recognition -- whereas i have been "confronted" and accused of being a woman i don't myself know from another team -- facial recognition seems to be b.s. if you ask me, a way to extract $$$ from casinos that they're too naive to realize as little more reliable than astrology

pit bosses are poor losers and they do try to take revenge at times -- usually a mistake, my former employer won a six figure lawsuit aga. a casino (and they paid) for touching him in the course of banning him from the premises

another team mate got a $40K ruling (in arbitration) aga. a casino in laughlin for being detained 20 minutes against his will -- casino paid rather than taking it to a jury

it is not the one-sided game it was in the kenny uston days

touch me, hit me, lie about me...you could very well lose big time

[MetaTrope]

26. With Citicorp pouring its money into an investment black hole, I've been tempted to pull my savings

But this story is a discouragement.

[Pavulon]

28. FDIC is your friend...

http://www2.fdic.gov/edie/

This is robbery, fire, and financial institution failure proof.

This person is in trouble because they either did not follow regulations of cash declaration by foreign national.

Cash or gold, under your bed, is a horrible way to secure your money.

[Pavulon]

27. Regulations

I travel a good bit. In every country there are laws regarding declaring cash. The EU has them as do most latin american countries. In other words if I show up in London with $20,000 US I will probably have a major problem.

I have conducted business transactions in excess of 10 million and never had the need to carry cash on my person more than a few thousand. I avoid it when at all possible.

I cant think of a single legal reason I would carry over a few thousand dollars cash.

Even illegal activity in international trade is electronic these days.

Mexico has banks, banks wire money to other banks. American Express will cover huge transactions if you have the proper background.

If the man was in violation of a regulation he has a big problem.

10,000 is the magic number here. Not registering transactions above that amount make life difficult.

The story lacks information to draw a conclusion. Nationality for one, declared asset is the next one.

[Solon]

30. I never did understand how this practice is Constitutional...

I thought the Constitution said we couldn't have our property seized without due process of law, isn't that supposed to involve a court somewhere in the process?

[HuffleClaw]

31. "...he'd have to prove it was his and did not come from illegal drug sales."

what happened to the presumption of innocence? meep. what madness.

[pitohui]

38. money doesn't have presumption of innocence

you don't understand the story

the man was not arrested, they know he didn't commit any crime

they arrested the money, property doesn't have civil rights

more questions, let me know, i used to be an activist trying to raise awareness in this area until i realized it was a waste of time -- most people are happy to be ignorant like the poster upthread who, since HIS business doesn't require cash, doesn't understand that many other businesses including gambling, thrift/flea/antique buying and selling etc. DO require cash

[NashVegas]

44. So Money Has Personhood As Much as Corporations

Shouldn't it have more civil rights?

[leaninglib]

42. We all know that the government is always coming up with new ways to seize our money...

But this is literally "highway robbery."

[skids]

43. F.E.A.R.

A site about this well worth the visit:

http://www.fear.org/

[TroubleMan]

45. Good website.

Thanks.