Feds seize cash for no reason.

[Sitbcknchill]

Apparently you can't even carry cash on you? The guy basically got robbed by the police! It's funny they want to split it 80/20. Anyways I just posted this cause it kinda tweaked my noodle. WTF.....

Tuesday, July 22, 2008

[top]Feds after cash seized in Va. stop

By Sally Voth -- Daily Staff Writer

HARRISONBURG — More than $82,000 seized during a January traffic stop in Edinburg will go to fight drug crimes if the U.S. attorney's office in the Western District of Virginia wins a civil suit filed in U.S. District Court.
A forfeiture complaint, filed Thursday, seeks $82,700 seized Jan. 24 by the Virginia State Police's counter-terrorism and criminal interdiction unit. It says the money was either the result of crime, or facilitated it.
According to an affidavit signed by Drug Enforcement Administration task force officer Stephen D. Smith and filed in online court records, Nevel Lamont Harris was pulled over by Trooper J.K. Miller at about 10:45 a.m. for following another car too closely on Interstate 81 near Edinburg.
Harris, whose hand was shaking uncontrollably, said he'd rented the Nissan Maxima, which was registered in New Jersey.
His criminal record was called up, and revealed he'd been sentenced in 1994 to three to eight years in prison for violating the Pennsylvania Drug and Cosmetic Act, and that he was scheduled to appear in Union County (N.J.) Superior Court on July 17 for drug possession, distribution of heroin/cocaine and distribution of drugs within 500 feet of public housing, the affidavit says.
Harris told Miller that he was driving his cousin, Freddie Lee Harris Jr., from Pennsylvania to Atlanta, the affidavit says.
A police dog indicated it smelled drugs on the car, which gave police probable cause to search, Sgt. B.C. Andrews, one of the searchers, said Monday in a phone interview.
There was no luggage in the car, the affidavit says, but police found tens of thousands of dollars in the glove compartment and trunk. The glove box also contained a speeding ticket Harris had gotten earlier in the day in New Jersey.
Harris said the money totaled $85,000, and belonged to him, the affidavit says. He told Trooper A.W. Daniel he had not had time to deposit the money in the bank, it says, and did not intend to make any large purchases with the cash.
"Their stories were inconsistent — where they were going, what they were doing, that type of thing," Andrews said. "That led us to believe that there was criminal activity afoot."
He said the police called the DEA after finding the large sums of money and no receipts.
"They advised us to confiscate the money and they proceeded with the seizure of the money," he said. "If [Harris loses] the money, then 20 percent goes to [the] DEA, and 80 percent goes to the department of state police."
The state police would put the money into a drug trust fund, which spokesman Sgt. F.L. Tyler said goes to different law enforcement agencies' drug-fighting efforts.
Both men were released, along with the car, after the traffic stop, the affidavit says. A swab done of the money showed high levels of cocaine, it says.

[old hippie 56]

The I-10 corridor that runs along the Gulf coast is also bad for doing this type of robbery.

[Panthers007]

Never, never-ever carry cash in the USA. Except small personal sums. Plastic is the way to go. Though I've had police/customs try to steal my credit-cards before as well. It's all from the Federal Forfeiture Act: They take your money. They will give it back as soon as you can prove you have never sold drugs to anyone ever. Think you can? Nope - you can't prove a negative. And you don't have to be charged with any crime - they see money? They take it. Poof!

[MachinaDeus]

The I-10 corridor that runs along the Gulf coast is also bad for doing this type of robbery

I can agree, recently i've heard of corrupt cops actually seizing high end cars in the Louisiana section of I-10 never had any trouble traveling I-10 myself but one needs to stay wary for sure.

[Lobsang]

Yes when SWIM would have drugs in the car on the New Jersey Turnpike. He would keep them in a fake can of WD 40 that had a secret compartment. This would be with other junk in the trunk with greese on it. He would also have a doctors bag and a stethoscope on the passanger seat. And a Bible in the car as well. He was just a good Christian doctor.

When SWIM worked in a clinic in New Jersey he treated a lot of cops. The clinic saw cops for injuries. Well in New Jersey they had these "get out of jail" cards that the cops gave to their friends. They were called "courtesy cards". If you got pulled over when the cop asked for your license you would also give them the card. The card waw signed on the back by the cop that gave it. Now it was best to have one signed by a captain or what ever. aIt usually stopped the cop right in his tracks.

But the state cops would not be as willing to accept the cards. For them you needed the big gold Naew Jersey State FOP shield on your back window. It was a big metal thing that stuck on with suction cups. It had an ID number on it and you had to have a corresponding ID card. If you did not you could be in trouble legally. It was for police officers families and special friends only. They were rare. A cop gave SWIM one. It worked perfectly. You could speed and you would not get pulled over as the thing was so visible from a long way away.

[Stephenwolf]

A friend who i can no longer identify once told me that most money will have traces of cocaine on it for some reason or another, and if that is true then of course having 85,000+ dollars would have easily detectable levels...thats awesome ain't it? Also i like how even though the drug dogs indicated there were drugs in the car, No Drugs were Found....

Stephenwolf added 2 Minutes and 20 Seconds later...

we believe criminal activity is going on so we have to take your money, oh no we're not going to arrest you, you're free to go....

Stephenwolf added 2 Minutes and 44 Seconds later...

one last thing... though i know this isn't a perfect source... http://www.snopes.com/business/money/cocaine.asp

[Heretic.Ape.]

I remember in university my friends chemistry class had an assignment to test bills for cocaine. If I remember correctly some 85% or so tested positive. The professor said this was not a particularly high figure.

[Panthers007]

The tests used, I repeat, will show a positive with laundry detergent. And a thousand other things as well. It's a shakedown pure & simple. Bills fresh from a bank will show positive unless they are straight from the printing-presses.

They've been playing this game since the 1980's.