May 11, 2015 Washington Post reports on DEA seizing $16,000 from a young man who was moving to Los Angeles under civil forfeiture. They did not charge him with any crime. The burden of proof is on him to prove that he had no criminal intent
in order to get his money back.
Joseph Rivers was hoping to hit it big. According to the Albuquerque Journal,
the aspiring businessman from just outside of Detroit had pulled
together $16,000 in seed money to fulfill a lifetime dream of starting a
music video company. Last month, Rivers took the first step in that
voyage, saying goodbye to the family and friends who had supported him
at home and boarding an Amtrak train headed for Los Angeles.
He never made it. From the Albuquerque Journal:
A
DEA agent boarded the train at the Albuquerque Amtrak station and began
asking various passengers, including Rivers, where they were going and
why. When Rivers replied that he was headed to LA to make a music video,
the agent asked to search his bags. Rivers complied.
The
agent found Rivers's cash, still in a bank envelope. He explained why
he had it: He was starting a business in California, and he'd had
trouble in the past withdrawing large sums of money from out-of-state
banks.
The agents didn't believe him, according to the
article. They said they thought the money was involved in some sort of
drug activity. Rivers let them call his mother back home to corroborate
the story. They didn't believe her, either.
Didn't A-G Holder promise to do something about civil forfeiture a while back?
The practice has proven to be controversial. Earlier this year,
then-U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder announced measures restricting
the use of some types of civil asset forfeiture. But as the Institute
for Justice noted in a February report, these changes only affect a small percentage
of forfeitures initiated by local law enforcement agencies, not federal
ones like the DEA. About 90 percent of Justice Department seizures
won't be affected at all.
Add your signature to
a petition to the White House to end civil forfeiture.
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