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Title: Police Steal $16,000 from Farmer to Finance a Larger Operation to Rob More People
Source:
Free Thought Project/IJ Review
URL Source: http://thefreethoughtproject.com/po ... e-larger-operation-rob-people/
Published: Jun 10, 2015
Author: Matt Agorist
Post Date: 2015-06-10 20:58:03 by Deckard
Keywords: None
Views: 1329
Comments: 25
Livingston, MT — Lorenzo Ayala was on his way back from being stood up by a woman he met online when he was pulled over and subsequently robbed by a Montana State Trooper. During his drive to meet his online friend, Ayala, who is also a farmer, was also going to purchase parts for his broken tractor so he had his savings of $16,000 in his trunk. On his way to California, Montana Highway Patrol Trooper Erick Fetterhoff pulled Ayala over on Interstate 90 near Livingston, according to court records. Fetterhoff is trained as an expert to seek out substances that his bosses tell him to kidnap and cage people for possessing. He said in his police report that he smelled cologne and saw multiple suspicious items indicative of these substances. Fetterhoff then deprived Ayala of his right to be secure in his own belongings and began to tear apart his vehicle in search of illegal drugs. No drugs were found. What was found, however, was $16,020 that Ayala had saved to purchase parts to fix his tractor. Despite the Highway Patrol not finding any illegal substances, and not charging Ayala with a crime, his money was ‘seized’ or stolen, depending on who you ask. This money was stolen in June of 2013. It was then used to help finance an entire unit devoted to pulling people over and stealing their property. In the last 18 months alone, the patrol has spent more than $170,000 of stolen funds to build a larger operation to keep stealing more funds in a crazy cycle of robbery for growth. The good news is, however, that their robbery scheme will soon be coming to an end, or at least it will be heavily diminished. For years, the courts acted with the police and were able to rob people like Ayala without convicting them of a crime. But on July 1, all of that changes. Montana became the fourth state to overhaul their “policing for profit” scam. At the beginning of next month, officers must store suspects’ assets until the owner is convicted of a crime involving that property. “The police ought to have to prove something before they take your stuff away,” Chris Young, one of Ayala’s attorneys, said. “And now they do.” While this is a small step forward in the fight to stop the fleecing of American citizens by law enforcement, it will likely lead to a slew of other problems. Police will likely be reluctant to bring their windfall operations to a halt, so they will likely take any means necessary to seek convictions; whether or not the person is actually guilty of a crime. It has gotten so bad that the Canadian government has issued a public service announcement for its citizens warning them that American Road Pirates, aka police officers, may very well rob them upon entry into the US. Since September 2001, there have been 62,000 incidents of road piracy; resulting in a booty of over $2.5 billion. In the US, “298 departments and 210 task forces have seized the equivalent of 20 percent or more of their annual budgets since 2008” according to a report by the Post. Some might try and say that this money and property is obviously “taken from criminals” in order to rationalize this theft on a massive scale. However, as is evident in the case of Mr. Ayala, the government does not have to charge you with a crime, let alone convict you, to take your property and after they steal your property the burden of proof is on you to get it back. Only one sixth of the 62,000 cases of cash forfeitures to police in the last decade have been challenged in court due to the high cost of challenging the state; not to mention that since their money was stolen, even if they once had the funds to challenge the theft, they may not any longer. The justice department’s asset forfeiture fund in 2011 was $1.8 billion. In Philadelphia alone, more than $64 million in seized property has been taken in the last decade and 100% of it has gone into the pockets of cops, judges, and other bureaucrats with a hand in the treasure chest. But these billions stolen from the citizens of this country by the ones who claim to keep them safe, are just an example of a few bad apples, right? It’s most assuredly not a systemic problem resulting from the glaring unaccountable nature of the state. A Farmer Had $16,000 to Buy Tractor Parts, Instead He Ended Up a Victim of ‘Policing For Profit’ Fetterhoff, a drug recognition expert, saw several items that made him suspicious: a single key in the ignition, a bag of beef jerky, a bottle of Visine, cologne, lighters, clothing stored in plastic grocery bags, and trash littered throughout the car.” Let that sink in - beef jerky, cologne, Visine and a messy car are are enough to have you tagged as a drug dealer. Welcome to Police State USA. 
Road piracy in the US has reached epic proportions.
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#1. To: Deckard (#0)
For once, I have less sympathy for the victim. Farm machinery and tractor parts are rarely cash-only. In most farm states, a local check is good anywhere because the courts are more lenient with people who rob liquor stores than those who kite bad checks. So, this time, I'd like to see this guy prove he had to pay cash for tractor parts. And I'd like to know who was selling the tractor parts and why they won't accept a check like every other business in rural America. No, this is not an ordinary transaction. Something stinks about the buyer or the seller or both. That said, it's a shame that Montana police would sink to roadside banditry. I always thought they were about the classiest cops in the States. Very laid back about speeding laws (outside towns).
I'm sure no one forced him to pay with cash, it still should not be a crime to make any purchase with cash. Maybe it's the cologne. I've done a lot of business in cash myself. But you really are better off writing a check if you're making a business purchase over $1,000. I still say something about this story stinks.
It's this part.... "FREE THOUGHT PROJECT" lol Every society gets the kind of criminal it deserves. What is equally true is that every community gets the kind of law enforcement it insists on. Robert Kennedy
The story from The Free Thought Project is confusing. Their stories always are. So, let me get try to get this story straight so I can understand it. Lorenzo Ayala, a farmer living in Palo Alto, California, saved more that $16,020 in cash to buy parts for his broken tractor. He takes that cash and places it in the truck of his car and leaves California to go visit a Billings, Montana, woman he had just met online. The woman stood Lorenzo up and he was on his way back home to California in February, 2013, when Montana Highway Patrol Trooper Erick Fetterhoff pulled Lorenzo over on I-90 near Livingston, Montana, for expired license plates. Lorenzo’s driver’s license was suspended and he should have been driving with a breath-alcohol ignition device. Montana troopers are trained to notice among other things, that people who transport narcotics often use masking scents to cover up drug odors. Lorenzo’s Volkswagen Jetta reeked with the strong odor from the cologne that had been doused over the entire inside of the vehicle. From TFTP article here: That’s a lie. Fetterhoff then called for a K-9 unit from the Livingston Police Department and the drug-sniffing dog alerted officers to the presence of narcotics in Lorenzo’s VW. The trooper then searched the vehicle and found the $16,020 hidden in the trunk. From TFTP article here: I say read a different article to find: Despite finding no drugs and not charging Ayala with a crime, state prosecutors petitioned to keep the cash. District Judge Brenda Gilbert sided with the state and ordered Ayala to relinquish the money on October 27, 2014. “Though no drugs were found in the vehicle, the odor of narcotics can linger in a vehicle and result in a positive canine alert, even after the narcotics have been removed,” Gilbert wrote in her ruling. Ayala’s lawyers, Young and Elisabeth Montoya, were unable to prove otherwise. TFTP is right about one thing that is good. Montana is changing its law for a tremendous improvement in that the government has to prove the relationship instead of forcing the person to prove there is no relationship. The burden of proof will be on the right person now. Okay, now I understand the whole story. This TFTP story does stink and the entire article has now been correctly classified as:
It really is quite ordinary to cross several states to date a woman you met on Teh Interwebs while carrying $16,000 in cash to buy parts for your poor broken-down tractor. It's a very common story among farmers. ‹/sarcasm›
It's a very common story among farmers. ‹/sarcasm› It's a story only a Deckard would believe. lol Every society gets the kind of criminal it deserves. What is equally true is that every community gets the kind of law enforcement it insists on. Robert Kennedy
You have me going for a moment...I caught on before I started reading the second paragraph.
Nice job, Gatlin....of getting the complete and correct story out. Thank you.
Take your pick. A Farmer Had $16,000 to Buy Tractor Parts, Instead He Ended Up a Victim of ‘Policing For Profit’ Farmer's savings among police seizures that paid for Montana K-9 unit How Law Enforcement in One State Kept $16,000 Found in Farmer’s Car Despite No Charges Being Brought Farmer's savings among seizures that bought Montana K-9 unit “Though no drugs were found in the vehicle, the odor of narcotics can linger in a vehicle and result in a positive canine alert, even after the narcotics have been removed,” Merely having an "odor" of drugs in your vehicle is grounds for State sanctioned highway robbery. Welcome to Police State Amerika. Thank you. Are you really that much of an attention whore and so desperate for validation that you have to congratulate yourself? Good grief, what a pathetic little man you are. I did already....all of the above.
Credit where credit is due. It really is not any trouble to pick apart the yellow journalism trash that TFTP puts out.
Step #1...
It speaks volume to your insecurity that you feel the need to congratulate yourself./ Either that or you are just a pompous, arrogant "look at me" attention whore. If you want to give credit where credit is due, start referring to yourself as "Gatlin - Liberty Flame's most strident and submissive supporter of the Police State" At least that would be honest The burdon of proof is not upon him, but upon the cop. If there is no evidence of criminality then the seizing of anything as justified retribution for criminality becomes theft. Period.
I deal with farmers all the time, and they always prefer cash in any transactions. The only time they'll accept a personal check is if they know and trust the person they're dealing with. Would YOU accept a personal out of state check for $16,000 from a hispanic stranger from two states away? I didn't think so.
The guy was traveling to see this woman in Montana and was on his way home to CA. Livingston is 100 miles west of Billings where the woman supposedly lived that stood him up for his hookup date. Was there even a woman in Billings? We still don't know where (or who) this supposed tractor parts seller was located. That may make a difference. OTOH, it does seem much more unlikely that this guy was an actual drug mule since he was driving with expired plates and his CA license was suspended apparently. If the license was restored, supposedly he would have had to be driving a breathalyzer-locked vehicle under CA guidelines. What drug gang would let a drug mule with suspended license for DUI and expired plates haul their money somewhere? WashTimes: "Ayala was traveling back to California in February 2013 after the Billings woman he met online stood him up and he was unable to find the tractor parts he needed. Montana Highway Patrol Trooper Erick Fetterhoff pulled him over on Interstate 90 near Livingston, according to court records." So there weren't any tractor parts to buy. He had the $16K in the trunk, his life savings, because he was hoping to find those tractor parts. And he was carrying his clothing in garbage bags and looked like he was living out of the car. The same car with the expired plates and that he didn't have a license to drive. I don't necessarily favor letting the cops keep his $16K but I do see why they were so suspicious of this "farmer". BTW, let's see a picture of this broken-down tractor and hear more about what parts it needs for repair. Let's see a photo of his "farm" and hear more about it. You do realize this guy could have just as easily been headed for Oregon to make a pot purchase there and take the weed back to CA? Not that that would in and of itself justify taking his cash. This guy might also have been holding a bunch of cash to avoid taxes or collections or child support and alimony garnishment. Or he was planning to do business with someone in that situation who demanded cash-only. Did you notice how he didn't have a cashiers check or use travelers checks instead? Because he can't locate the parts he wanted after all. But that he brought his entire life savings of $16K to pay for, something of a risk because an ordinary thief might have broke into his car and stole it or it could have gotten burned up or destroyed or lost in a car accident. Or his car stolen along with his cash. There is something more than a little suspicious about this "farmer" even if it might not justify the MHP confiscating his cash.
Would YOU expect that Lorenzo Ayala living in Palo Alto, California, needed to drive all the way Montana to buy $16.020 worth of tractor parts and load $16,020 worth of tractor parts in his Volkswagen Jetta to then drive all the way back to Palo Alto, California, so he could fix his tractor….when Google shows 1,830,000 hits is 0.62 seconds for “Tractor Parts California? Come on…don’t buy into this yellow journalism bullshit.
Ayala might not have been breaking the law but you can't say there aren't quite a few suspicious facts here. No tractor parts dealer or parts, no Internet floozy to hook up with in Billings, etc. I'm not saying the forfeiture was correct or should stand. But the trooper had enough cause for suspicions of this lovelorn, tractor-parts-questing "farmer". And from Palo Alto, a wealthy enclave of the San Francisco metro area, not exactly an agricultural heartland. I don't think there are very many farmers in Palo Alto. It's a small metro area within the Bay Area metroplex. Someone needs to show me this broken tractor and tell me what parts it needs that cost $16,000. How about just finding the name and model of the tractor? Was it a transmission or an engine or what? Could Ayala provide the name of any tractor parts dealer that he had visited? Was it parts that could even be fit inside his car? What about this supposed woman in Billings? Does she even exist? As usual, a lot of investigative details are omitted in favor of outrage blogging. Just do a search on this guy's name, lots of inflammatory articles and aggregator site hits, most of them rehashed from a handful of primary news accounts, very little info on the actual background facts of the case.
I've yet to see a single farmer driving a VW. In my whole life.
What none of the article tells are this, how much you wanna bet that this fine gentleman has a career criminal record of drug related convictions. How much you wanna bet he's been on the local drug task forces radar for years. Police won't or can't report that stuff... all we are left to know is he's a VW driving farmer that likes internet chicks... with more cash than brains. lol
Every society gets the kind of criminal it deserves. What is equally true is that every community gets the kind of law enforcement it insists on. Robert Kennedy
Volkswagen Jetta I've yet to see a single farmer driving a VW. In my whole life. I am still laughing. Come to think of it....neither have I. Most drive trucks...
Correct. In criminal cases, not civil cases. Montana revised their criminal asset forfeiture law to prevent the state from seizing the asset until a criminal conviction. Nowhere does the legislation mention civil asset forfeiture. Read it yourself. http://leg.mt.gov/bills/2015/BillPdf/HB0463.pdf
She could clear all this up in a heartbeat. What's her name and what address did he go to? Another thought. Who puts $16,020 in the trunk of their car to meet someone they met online two states away? I don't care what the reason was, that's really stupid.
#2. To: TooConservative (#1)
(Edited)
So, this time, I'd like to see this guy prove he had to pay cash for tractor parts
Something stinks about the buyer or the seller or both.
“Truth is treason in the empire of lies.” - Ron Paul
Americans who have no experience with, or knowledge of, tyranny believe that only terrorists will experience the unchecked power of the state. They will believe this until it happens to them, or their children, or their friends.
Paul Craig Roberts
#3. To: Deckard (#2)
I'm sure no one forced him to pay with cash, it still should not be a crime to make any purchase with cash.
#4. To: TooConservative (#3)
I still say something about this story stinks.
#5. To: GrandIsland, TooConservative, Deckard (#4)
I still say something about this story stinks.
Fetterhoff then deprived Ayala of his right to be secure in his own belongings and began to tear apart his vehicle in search of illegal drugs.
Despite the Highway Patrol not finding any illegal substances, and not charging Ayala with a crime, his money was ‘seized’ or stolen, depending on who you ask.
#6. To: Gatlin (#5)
#7. To: TooConservative, Gatlin (#6)
It really is quite ordinary to cross several states to date a woman you met on Teh Interwebs while carrying $16,000 in cash to buy parts for your poor broken-down tractor.
#8. To: TooConservative (#6)
#9. To: GrandIsland, TooConservative (#7)
(Edited)
t's a story only a Deckard would believe. lol
#10. To: Gatlin (#5)
I say read a different article
“Truth is treason in the empire of lies.” - Ron Paul
Americans who have no experience with, or knowledge of, tyranny believe that only terrorists will experience the unchecked power of the state. They will believe this until it happens to them, or their children, or their friends.
Paul Craig Roberts
#11. To: Gatlin (#9)
Nice job, Gatlin....of getting the complete and correct story out.
“Truth is treason in the empire of lies.” - Ron Paul
Americans who have no experience with, or knowledge of, tyranny believe that only terrorists will experience the unchecked power of the state. They will believe this until it happens to them, or their children, or their friends.
Paul Craig Roberts
#12. To: Deckard (#10)
Take your pick.
#13. To: Deckard (#11)
#14. To: Deckard (#10)
Merely having an "odor" of drugs in your vehicle is grounds for State sanctioned highway robbery.
#15. To: Gatlin (#13)
(Edited)
Credit where credit is due.
“Truth is treason in the empire of lies.” - Ron Paul
Americans who have no experience with, or knowledge of, tyranny believe that only terrorists will experience the unchecked power of the state. They will believe this until it happens to them, or their children, or their friends.
Paul Craig Roberts
#16. To: TooConservative (#1)
So, this time, I'd like to see this guy prove he had to pay cash for tractor parts.
#17. To: TooConservative (#1)
#18. To: Logsplitter, Gatlin, GrandIsland, misterwhite (#17)
Would YOU accept a personal out of state check for $16,000 from a hispanic stranger from two states away? I didn't think so.
#19. To: Logsplitter, TooConservative, GrandIsland, misterwhite (#17)
Would YOU accept a personal out of state check for $16,000 from a hispanic stranger from two states away? I didn't think so.
#20. To: Gatlin, Logsplitter (#19)
#21. To: All (#20)
Volkswagen Jetta
#22. To: TooConservative (#21)
#23. To: TooConservative (#21)
#24. To: Deckard (#0)
"Montana became the fourth state to overhaul their “policing for profit” scam. At the beginning of next month, officers must store suspects’ assets until the owner is convicted of a crime involving that property."
#25. To: TooConservative (#20)
"What about this supposed woman in Billings? Does she even exist?"
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