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Title: How Oklahoma police took $53,000 from a Burmese Christian band, a church in Omaha and an orphanage in Thailand
Source:
X Republic/Wash Post
URL Source: http://www.xrepublic.tv/#!How-Oklah ... /cjds/571e81010cf232b075cdf995
Published: Apr 25, 2016
Author: Christopher Ingraham
Post Date: 2016-04-25 18:47:39 by Deckard
Keywords: None
Views: 755
Comments: 6
Eh Wah had been on the road for 12 hours when he saw the flashing lights in his rear-view mirror. The 40-year-old Texas man, a refugee from Burma who became a U.S. citizen more than a decade ago, was heading home to Dallas to check on his family. He was on a break from touring the country for months as a volunteer manager for the Klo & Kweh Music Team, a Christian rock ensemble from Burma, also known as Myanmar. The group was touring the United States to raise funds for a Christian college in Burma and an orphanage in Thailand. Eh Wah managed the band's finances, holding on to the cash proceeds it raised from ticket and merchandise sales at concerts. By the time he was stopped in Oklahoma, the band had held concerts in 19 cities across the United States, raising money via tickets that sold for $10 to $20 each. The sheriff's deputies in Muskogee County, Okla., pulled Eh Wah over for a broken tail light about 6:30 p.m. on Feb. 27. The deputies started asking questions — a lot of them. And at some point, they brought out a drug-sniffing dog, which alerted on the car. That's when they found the cash, according to the deputy's affidavit. There was the roughly $33,000 from ticket sales and donations, much of it earmarked for the religious college back in Burma, according to Eh Wah and the band members. There was the $1,000 in cash donations to the orphanage in Thailand, small bills bundled in two or three dozen sealed envelopes with the orphanage's name written on them. There was $8,000 in cash from the band's CD and souvenir sales. A $9,000 cash gift to one of the band's members from his family and friends in Buffalo — cash that Eh Wah says he didn't even know was in the blue and white gift bag he had been asked to hold. And $2,000 in cash for Eh Wah and the band's incidental expenses on the trip: meals and tolls, for example. All told, the deputies found $53,000 in cash in Eh Wah's car that night. Muskogee County Sheriff Charles Pearson said he couldn't comment on the particulars of Eh Wah's case because of the open investigation, but it is clear from his deputy's affidavit that the officers didn't like Eh Wah's explanation for how he got the cash. "Inconsistent stories," the affidavit notes. Despite the positive alert from the drug-sniffing dog, no drugs, paraphernalia or weapons were found. Just the cash. They took Eh Wah to the police station for more questioning. They let him drive his own car there, with deputies' vehicles in front of and behind him the whole way. They interrogated him for several hours. "I just couldn't believe it," Eh Wah said in an interview. "An officer was telling me that 'you are going to jail tonight.' And I don’t know what to think. What did I do that would make me go to jail? I didn’t do anything. Why is he saying that?" Eh Wah tried to explain himself, but he had difficulty because English isn't his first language. He says he had a hard time understanding the officers, and they had a hard time understanding him. He told them about the band and his role with it and how he had been entrusted with the cash. He even had the officers call one of the band's leaders, Saw Marvellous Soe, who had decamped to Miami while the band was on a break. Marvellous saw Eh Wah's number on his phone, but when he answered, he was surprised to hear someone speaking with a thick Southern drawl that he could barely understand — "like in the movies," Marvellous said in an interview. "The police officer started asking questions," Marvellous recalled. "I explained: 'We are a music team. We came here for a tour.'" Marvellous tried to explain that the band was from Burma. "He kept telling me, 'You are wrong, you are wrong,'" Marvellous said. "Everything I said, [he said,] 'You are wrong.' I said: 'We are doing a good thing! And now you are accusing us of being like a drug dealer or something like that.'" After that phone call, Eh Wah began to realize that no matter what he did or said, he wouldn't be able to satisfy the officers' questions. "I realized that they were seizing all of the money. I was like, 'This can't be happening.' But I didn't know what to do." The officers ended up taking all of the money — all $53,249 of it. "Possession of drug proceeds," the property receipt reads. But they let Eh Wah go. They didn't charge him with a crime that night, instead sending him back on the road about 12:30 a.m., with the broken tail light.
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#1. To: Deckard (#0)
Yep. The 1-gram "ticket" sells for $10 and the 2.5-gram "ticket" sells for $20. "Eh Wah tried to explain himself, but he had difficulty because English isn't his first language." He's been a U.S. citizen for 10 years and can't speak English? "Despite the positive alert from the drug- sniffing dog, no drugs, paraphernalia or weapons were found. Just the cash." It was a good "tour". They sold all the "tickets".
Think of what someone would have done in say 1855 or so if this had happened, cross that with a Clint Eastwood movie, and you get what I would do. That is what is wrong with America, too civilized. We are so civilized that we are afraid to fight for what is ours. We will even excuse the theft of money with "it's only money". Hell yeah, it is MY money. I traded MY TIME ON EARTH FOR THAT, and It is as precious as it can get. We are only given so much time to live, and we give up how many years to buy a car that someone can just take? How long to earn or save $53,000?
The ignorance displayed in your condemnation of these Christian missionaries is above and beyond any of the usual tripe you post on these types of threads. What - you think there is some massive drug cartel being operated here under cover of "pretending" to be musicians? Are you really that ignorant to think that these folks are going from church to church in order to peddle drugs? Even though their innocence was assured when despite the positive alert from the drug- sniffing dog, no drugs, paraphernalia or weapons were found... you still have such an obsessive fetish for authority you can't wrap your brainwashed mind around the fact that THESE PEOPLE ARE INNOCENT. Just the cash. And there we see the real reason for the harassment - they wanted the CASH. This is state-sanctioned highway robbery, any way you slice it. Oh - one more thing jackass : On Monday afternoon, Muskogee County District Attorney Orvil Loge dropped both the civil and criminal charges against Eh Wah. In an interview with The Washington Post, Loge said "I looked at the case and met with the officers, and determined that we would not be able to meet the burden of proof in the criminal case and in the civil case." Loge said a check for the full amount of money taken from Eh Wah will be mailed to Eh Wah's lawyers as soon as possible. You're an imbecile. In a Cop Culture, the Bill of Rights Doesn’t Amount to Much What really gets to me is that no one is safe from these state-sanctioned thieves. You're guilty just for the fact that you are carrying cash. And the cops who knew these missionaries were clean, decided to use the coercive power of the government to steal their lawfully earned cash, most of which was in the form of gifts from churches and their members. Incidents such as this one only reinforce the fact that America is a police state. In a Cop Culture, the Bill of Rights Doesn’t Amount to Much OJ was found not guilty. So your conclusion is that he didn't do it? Moron.
Oh man, that's the best you can do? Assclown. The charges were DROPPED in this case, do you not understand the difference? You are still under the delusion that some Christian musicians were going from church to church selling drugs? Insane! In a Cop Culture, the Bill of Rights Doesn’t Amount to Much"... raising money via tickets that sold for $10 to $20 each.'
#2. To: Deckard (#0)
#3. To: misterwhite (#1)
“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
#4. To: jeremiad (#2)
Hell yeah, it is MY money. I traded MY TIME ON EARTH FOR THAT, and It is as precious as it can get. We are only given so much time to live, and we give up how many years to buy a car that someone can just take? How long to earn or save $53,000?
“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
#5. To: Deckard (#3)
#6. To: misterwhite (#5)
(Edited)
OJ was found not guilty. So your conclusion is that he didn't do it?
“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
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