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Title: The DEA seized her father’s life savings at an airport without alleging any crime occurred, lawsuit says
Source: The Seattle Times
URL Source: https://www.seattletimes.com/nation ... y-crime-occurred-lawsuit-says/
Published: Jan 17, 2020
Author: Justin Jouvenal (The Washington Post)
Post Date: 2020-01-17 10:11:03 by misterwhite
Keywords: None
Views: 8577
Comments: 78

Every dollar Terry Rolin had saved over a lifetime was stacked in a large Tupperware container: $82,373. At 79, he was aging and worried about keeping so much cash on hand, his daughter said, so during one of her visits he asked her to open a joint bank account.

Rebecca Brown was catching a flight home from the Pittsburgh airport early the next day and said she didn’t have time to stop at a bank. She confirmed on a government website that it’s legal to carry any amount of cash on a domestic flight and tucked the money in her carry-on.

But just minutes before departure in late August, a Drug Enforcement Administration agent met her at the busy gate and questioned her about the cash, which showed up on a security scan. He insisted Brown put Rolin on the phone to confirm her story. Brown said Rolin, who is suffering mental decline, was unable to verify some details.

“He just handed me the phone and said, ‘Your stories don’t match,’ ” Brown recalled the agent saying. ” ‘We’re seizing the cash.’ “

Brown said she was never told she or her father were under suspicion of committing any crime and neither has been charged with anything. A search of her bag turned up no drugs or other contraband. Neither she or her father appear to have criminal records that might raise suspicions.

Brown and Rolin filed a federal, class-action lawsuit Wednesday against the DEA, Transportation Security Administration and agency officials, claiming the agencies violate the Constitution’s ban on unlawful search and seizures by taking cash from travelers without probable cause. The lawsuit claims the only criteria the DEA has for seizing cash is if it finds amounts greater than $5,000.

The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Pennsylvania, seeks the return of Rolin’s money and an injunction against the practice.

Both the DEA and TSA declined to comment on the lawsuit’s allegations.

“We can’t comment on ongoing litigation,” said Katherine Pfaff, a DEA spokeswoman.

“As a matter of policy, TSA does not comment on pending litigation,” TSA spokeswoman Jenny Burke wrote in an email.

Brown said the loss of the savings has prevented Rolin from getting treatment for painful tooth decay and gum disease and kept the family from fixing up his pick-up truck, which is his only means of transportation. Rolin is living on retirement benefits from a job as a railroad engineer.

Brown said her grandparents kept their savings in cash because they lived through the bank runs of the Great Depression, and her father adopted the habit.

“I get they are trying to quash drug distribution, but this is a blatant overreach,” Brown said. “This is a working person, a taxpaying citizen of the United States trying to take care of her elderly parent, and they took the money.”

Dan Alban, a senior attorney for the Virginia-based Institute for Justice, which filed the lawsuit on behalf of Brown and Rolin, said the family’s story is not unique.

“This is something that we know is happening all across the United States,” Alban said. “We’ve been contacted by people who have been traveling to buy used cars or buy equipment for their business and had their cash seized.”

The DEA made more than 8,850 seizures worth $539 million in 2017, according to the latest agency statistics for a full year. A 2016 USA Today investigation found DEA agents seized at least $209 million in cash from travelers at the nation’s 15 busiest airports over the previous decade.

Federal law gives the DEA and other law enforcement agencies power to seize cash and property linked to drug and criminal activity, a process known as civil asset forfeiture.

The agencies say it is an important tool to undermine the financial viability of criminal networks, deprive organizations of illicit proceeds and confiscate property like cars and houses that might be used to carry out or harbor crime.

But the practice has come under increased scrutiny in recent years. Critics argue local police departments and federal agencies have used asset forfeiture as a cash cow to fatten budgets. In the DEA’s case, the agency feeds seized assets into a Justice Department fund that disburses the money to agencies and victims of crime.

A 2017 review by the Justice Department inspector general found only 44 of 100 seizures by the DEA were related to an ongoing investigation or resulted in a new investigation, arrest or prosecution. Most of the seizures occurred at transportation facilities like airports or bus stations.

The Supreme Court limited the power of local state agencies to seize property in an important ruling last year.

The DEA seized her father’s life savings at an airport without alleging any crime occurred, lawsuit says

Brown said she initially encountered issues when going through the TSA security checkpoint at Pittsburgh International Airport on Aug. 26. Brown was flying to Boston, where she lives outside the city.

A TSA screener noticed the cash in Brown’s carry-on during a scan and pulled her aside for questioning, Brown said. The screener asked what the money was for, photocopied her ID and travel documents and held her luggage until a Pennsylvania state trooper arrived. The lawsuit claims the TSA exceeded its authority in holding Brown’s bag.

Brown said she repeated the explanation that the money was her father’s life savings to the trooper and then retold it to his superior.

Finally, she said she was allowed to proceed to the gate, where she was met by the DEA agent.

Brown said it was humiliating to be questioned by the agent in front of other travelers at the gate. When he seized the money, she said he put it into a plastic bag and told her someone would be in touch with her.

Brown said she stumbled onto her flight in shock as the doors were closing. She didn’t have time to fully explain to her father what had happened before takeoff, and he left seven frantic messages while they were in flight. In October, she received a notice that the DEA planned to permanently seize the cash, citing its authority to make such moves to combat crime.

“I was shaking the entire time,” Brown said of the flight. “I was embarrassed. I was afraid.”

– – –

The Washington Post’s Alice Crites contributed to this report.

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Begin Trace Mode for Comment # 9.

#1. To: All (#0)

Brown said the loss of the savings has prevented Rolin from getting treatment for painful tooth decay and gum disease and kept the family from fixing up his pick-up truck

Ummm, he had $82,373 in cash and could have done those things any time.

But no. Let's give the cash to this dimwit daughter so she can fly home with it and open a joint bank account in another city.

misterwhite  posted on  2020-01-17   10:16:44 ET  Reply   Untrace   Trace   Private Reply  


#3. To: misterwhite (#1)

Ummm, he had $82,373 in cash and could have done those things any time.

But no. Let's give the cash to this dimwit daughter so she can fly home with it and open a joint bank account in another city.

Ummm, those things could not have been done because they took his money. How do you know his truck was broke before they took his money? Oh you don't.

How do you know when he got his toothache?

They need to prove he committed a crime to get the money before they go taking it. In a just society they would do that. Meaning you support tyranny and injustice.

Why do you hate innocent until proven guilty?

You support the government saying you are guilty now prove your innocence. Why do you support thieves?

A K A Stone  posted on  2020-01-17   11:02:16 ET  Reply   Untrace   Trace   Private Reply  


#4. To: A K A Stone, misterwhite (#3) (Edited)

Why do you support thieves?

Bad parenting?

Did his mother not teach him as a child that stealing from others is wrong.

Perhaps she tried, but he laughed at her, stuck his fingers in his ears, and ran off to hide.

watchman  posted on  2020-01-17   11:19:28 ET  Reply   Untrace   Trace   Private Reply  


#5. To: watchman (#4)

Bad parenting?

Did his mother not teach him as a child that stealing from others is wrong.

Perhaps she tried, but he laughed at her, stuck his fingers in his ears, and ran off to hide.

That isn't the case. Misterwhite isn't a thief. I doubt he would ever steal. My opinion is misterwhte thinks it is drug money and they made it illegitimately. So he wants it seized.

It may be drug money but I honestly doubt it. If it is they should have to prove their case before seizing it. That is my take and opinion.

A K A Stone  posted on  2020-01-17   11:56:20 ET  Reply   Untrace   Trace   Private Reply  


#9. To: A K A Stone (#5)

My opinion is misterwhite thinks it is drug money and they made it illegitimately.

That's certainly possible. But all she has to do is show the legal origins of the money and she'll get it back, with interest and with her legal fees paid for.

But ... you'll note that I posted this under "Humor". Because her story is a joke. Her "story" makes no sense and even her own father couldn't verify it.

misterwhite  posted on  2020-01-17   16:14:47 ET  Reply   Untrace   Trace   Private Reply  


Replies to Comment # 9.

#29. To: misterwhite, A K A Stone (#9)

But all she has to do is show the legal origins of the money and she'll get it back, with interest and with her legal fees paid for.

I would note that Rebecca Brown was not the owner of the money. The money belonged to Terry Rolins, her father. At best, she was acting as his agent to deposit the money in a bank.

The burden of proof to justify civil asset forfeiture belongs to the government.

The Innocent Owner burden applies to property owned by one person and involved in the criminal action of another, with the innocent owner claiming he knew nothing.

CIVIL ASSET FORFEITURE STANDARD OF PROOF

https://ij.org/report/policing-for-profit/grading-state-federal-civil-forfeiture-laws/

Standard of Proof

People who manage to make it to court to fight a seizure often face a major disadvantage: the low standards of proof required to forfeit property under most civil forfeiture laws. The standard of proof is the hurdle the government must clear to win a civil forfeiture case. It dictates how convincing the government’s evidence must be to a judge or jury. The most familiar standard of proof in the American legal system is “beyond a reasonable doubt,” the requirement for convicting a person of a crime. American law sets such a high standard in criminal cases to avoid punishing the innocent. Yet federal and most state civil forfeiture laws set substantially lower standards for depriving people of their property, as the map in Figure 7 shows.

Thirty-one states and the federal government set “preponderance of the evidence” as the standard of proof for all civil forfeitures, making it the most common standard nationally. A preponderance of the evidence standard means that property is more likely than not connected to a crime.

[...]

https://ij.org/report/policing-for-profit/grading-state-federal-civil-forfeiture-laws/

INNOCENT OWNER BURDEN

Innocent Owner Burden

With civil forfeiture, not only can people lose their property without ever being charged with or convicted of a crime, they can also lose their property when someone else allegedly uses it in the commission of a crime. For example, police in Arizona arrested a man for stealing auto parts and seized the truck he had put them on. The truck was forfeited, even though it belonged to the man’s mother, who had done nothing wrong. A New Jersey woman lost her car after her son used it—without her knowledge or consent—while selling marijuana. It took two years of litigation to win it back. And a Michigan woman saw the car she co-owned with her husband forfeited after he was caught soliciting a prostitute in it—a crime she neither knew about nor consented to.

To avoid punishing such innocent third parties, civil forfeiture laws generally create a carve-out: Property owners (or partial owners) who had nothing to do with the alleged crime that prompted a seizure can petition to get the property (or their share of it) back. In theory, such “innocent owner” claims provide protection against unjust civil forfeitures. In practice, however, most innocent owner provisions put property owners at a disadvantage, making it easy for the government to hold on to seized property.

For starters, making an innocent owner claim is no easy task. Rhonda Cox, the Arizona mother whose son was arrested for theft, learned this the hard way. After her truck was seized, she told two police officers that it was hers and that she had nothing to do with her son’s crime. Both told her that she would never get her property back. Cox then provided proof of ownership to the county attorney’s office and explained that she had no knowledge of the truck’s involvement with any illegal activity. The prosecutor rejected her plea and started legal actions to forfeit her truck.

On her own and without a lawyer, Cox filed the paperwork required to challenge the forfeiture as an innocent owner—paying a $304 filing fee for the privilege. But eventually she gave up. The legal process was too convoluted, and—as the prosecutor had warned her—if she lost, not only would she lose the truck, but under Arizona law she would also have to pay the government’s legal costs.

Cox lost her truck without ever having been accused of a crime and without ever having gotten her day in court. Innocent third-party owners who do make it to court will often face a bizarre and almost impossible task: proving their own innocence.

As shown in Figure 8, innocent owner provisions in federal law and 35 states place the burden of proof on owners, meaning that owners must prove they had nothing to do with the alleged crime. In essence, most civil forfeiture laws presume that people are connected to any criminal activity involving their property and force them to prove otherwise to recover it. This is precisely the opposite of what happens in criminal trials, where the accused is presumed innocent until proven guilty by the government. It also often involves a practical impossibility, as it requires people to prove a negative—that they did not know about or consent to the illegal use of their property.

Only 10 states and the District of Columbia demand that the government prove owners did something wrong before forfeiting their property. In the remaining states, whether the burden of proof falls on the owner or the government generally depends on the type of property involved.

[snip]

nolu chan  posted on  2020-01-18 20:43:23 ET  Reply   Untrace   Trace   Private Reply  


End Trace Mode for Comment # 9.

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