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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsA former Marine was pulled over for following a truck too closely. Police took nearly $87,000 of...
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Matt Zapotosky
@mattzap
A former Marine was pulled over for following a truck too closely. Without charging him, police took nearly $87,000 of his cash.
A former Marine was pulled over for following a truck too closely. Police took nearly $87,000 of...
Advocates for Stephen Lara say his case shows how the government abuses its power to seize assets.
washingtonpost.com
6:04 AM · Sep 1, 2021
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/stephen-lara-nevada-asset-forfeiture-adoption/2021/09/01/6f170932-06ae-11ec-8c3f-3526f81b233b_story.html
The Nevada trooper first told Stephen Lara the highway patrol was educating drivers about violations they may not realize theyre committing, and that hed been pulled over for following a tanker truck too closely. Eventually the trooper admitted having an ulterior purpose: stopping the smuggling of illegal drugs, weapons and currency as they crossed the state.
Lara a former Marine who says he was on his way to visit his daughters in Northern California insisted he was doing none of those things, though he readily admitted he had a lot of cash in his car. As he stood on the side of the road, police searched the vehicle, pulling nearly $87,000 in a zip-top bag from Laras trunk and insisting a drug-sniffing dog had detected something on the cash.
Police found no drugs, and Lara, 39, was charged with no crime. But police left with his money, calling a Drug Enforcement Administration agent to coordinate an adoption, which allows federal authorities to seize cash or property they suspect is connected to criminal activity without levying criminal charges.
I left there confused. I left there angry, Lara said in an interview with The Washington Post. And I could not believe that I had just been literally robbed on the side of the road by people with badges and guns.
It was only after Lara got a lawyer, sued and talked with The Washington Post about his ordeal that the government said it would return his money.
*snip*
Short unrolled thread about story
https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1433053032984547329.html
WhiskeyGrinder
(22,151 posts)Aristus
(66,096 posts)n/t
Klaralven
(7,510 posts)If you have more than walking around cash, police will assume it is involved in drugs or other illegal activity and confiscate it.
Likely he was just going to give it to his daughters without filing the appropriate IRS gift tax forms....
Response to Klaralven (Reply #3)
Chin music This message was self-deleted by its author.
tinrobot
(10,848 posts)Almost all money will come into contact with drugs, eventually. There was once a study that found traces of cocaine on 90% of all bills in circulation. If you have a pile of money worth $87k, it's almost guaranteed at least some of those bills will smell like drugs.
Unless they can prove he obtained the money illicitly, they have no right confiscate simply because it "smells funny".
Jim__
(14,045 posts)This whole thing of the government seizing property without any criminal charges is pure bullshit.
Response to Jim__ (Reply #4)
Chin music This message was self-deleted by its author.