Highway Robbery by those we’re supposed to trust.
You’re on vacation traveling the country when you see those red and blues flashing in your rearview mirror. You pull over, knowing you’ve done nothing wrong. The officer casually steps out of his vehicle and approaches your car.
It’s at this point the officer goes through a series of questions, until he reaches one last question, Do you have any money in the car? You reply, Yes.
What follows next will shock most people.
The officer will claim he believes the money to be gained from illegal activity or to be used for illegal activity in the future, thus confiscating it.
You’re not charged with any crime. You let go with the only recourse being to sue the department to get your money back.
This is exactly what happened to Stephen, a retired Marine traveling though Reno, Nevada. It is not an isolated incident; it is though, a well documented one.
They robbed Stephen of his life savings of $86,900 under Civil Asset Forfeiture, a process linked to British maritime law that dates back hundreds of years.
Institute for Justice: “Adoption” is a process by which federal law enforcement agencies can take over a seizure by state and local law enforcement. If the federal government is successful in forfeiting the property, its “equitable sharing” program guarantees the state or local agency that seized the property up to 80% of the proceeds for use in the agency’s budget.
This is a legal process that permeates the country and needs to be stopped.
it’s not right for citizens to be robbed of their legally earned money just to fill the coffers of the law enforcement agencies.
Here’s another case that was bragged about on Twitter by the Michigan State Police, who admit no arrest made, while seizing money.
Steve Lehto: Michigan State Police seized $40,000 during a traffic stop and bragged about it on Twitter.
Jerry Johnson from North Carolina had 40k stolen by police in Phoenix, Arizona. On suspicion alone, it was drug money. No charges filled.
His appeal. STATE OF ARIZONA, Plaintiff/Appellee, v. JERRY JOHNSON,
Criminal forfeiture is one thing, but stealing money from citizens under the guise that it’s a tool in the battle against drug abuse is just wrong. It needs to stop.
The worst part about all this is they typically,
1.Take from those who cannot fight back.
2.Take amounts on average to smaller than the cost to fight it in court.
See Nassir Geiger where speaking to the wrong person can cost you everything. Nassir stopped to talk to a friend at McDonald’s, who unbeknown to him had been arrested for possession recently. Shortly had conversing with his friend, they pulled over him and searched. Nassir’s car and money were seized. They found no drugs.
Prove the illicit gains, then confiscate, Not Before.
The only way this is going to stop is by spreading the word.
Contact your Representatives Via email, or Social media. Tell your Friends, Tell your neighbors. It can happen to you.
No one is immune.
tennesseestar.com: Representative Andrew Clyde (R-GA-09) this month shared how Internal Revenue Service (IRS) agents violated him and his rights several years ago, and he proposed new ways for the agency to reform itself.
The congressman said IRS agents seized more than $940,000 of his in 2013 — without warning and without ever charging him with a crime.
“How on Earth does the Internal Revenue Service or any other government agency have the power to seize one’s property without charging a person with a crime? It should not. But the IRS had been wrongfully confiscating money from individuals and small business owners across the country through civil asset forfeiture. Specifically, they were accusing people of structuring their legally earned cash bank deposits and that is exactly what they did to me,” Clyde said.
For more on Stephen's case https://ij.org/case/nevada-civil-forfeiture/
Watch Cops Seize Combat Vet’s Life Savings [RARE FOOTAGE]
For more information:
Institute for Justice: Frustrating Corrupt Unfair Civil Forfeiture in the Words of Its Victims.pdf
