by Leon Felkins
Executive Director, FEAR.org

March 23, 2002

KeepAndBearArms.com -- I am looking for cases of extortion by the government using forfeiture. I believe the activity is very common but it is difficult to get first hand, factual, information. Of course, in most cases, there will be nothing documented. The victims are somehow convinced that they could suffer major consequences if they talk. So they don't. They try to forget about the incident and go on with their lives.

Please email me any cases or leads to cases of this despicable activity by the "authorities".

Here is an example of what I am looking for:

This example comes from "Legal Cafe" http://www.CourtTV.com/legalcafe, a television call-in talk show.

This particular episode occurred on August 20, 1997 and the subject was "Search and Seizure", http://www.CourtTV.com/legalcafe/home/search/transcript.html

I recommend that you read the complete transcript. A segment follows:

SEIZURE OF PROPERTY AND MONEY

MS. GRASSO:Let's go to another Dennis in New York. Good morning, Dennis. Thanks for holding.

Q: Okay.

MS. GRASSO: Hi.

Q: How are you doing?

MS. GRASSO: Okay. How are you? What--you said you had a problem with being stopped?

Q: Yes, I have.

MS. GRASSO: Tell us.

Q: I got married and I bought a Land Cruiser from the bank and I got--the day I got married, and I was--like two months later, I was driving and I do promotions for record companies, so I had a sum of money in my truck. I got stopped by the police. They asked me did I have anything in my truck illegal--

MS. GRASSO: Dennis, let me stop you one second. What did they stop you for?

Q: I don't know.

MR. SHERMAN: Tail light.

Q: I don't know.

MR. SHERMAN: Yeah.

MS. GRASSO: Okay. So they asked--I'm sorry, go ahead. I thought maybe they had stopped you for speeding or for some--

Q: No apparent reason.

MS. GRASSO: Okay.

Q: Just because I was a young black man in a nice Land Cruiser, to be blunt about it. And they stopped me, asked me did I have anything in my truck illegal. I told them no. So he said, "What's in that bag in your back seat?" I said, "That's money." So he said, "How much money?" I told him how much money it was--

MR. SHERMAN: How much.

Q: It was $14,000.

MS. GRASSO: That's a lot of money to be carrying. Okay. And so what happened?

Q: And he said, "So what're you doing with $14,000?" I was at another party. I said, "I'm going to rent a venue out." I work for Big Daddy K--he's a rap star--and I said, "We're going to get a venue to do a show with Keith Murray--(audio blocked)--and he was like, "Y'all don't make that kind of money."

    So he got the money, called for a backup. They took me out to the police and kept me down there for 10 hours, questioned me, they let me go, they told me I could come get my vehicle and my money the next day, and that's been eight months ago. They told me they have it for investigation ever since.

MS. GRASSO: You mean you haven't gotten your car or your money back?

Q: Haven't gotten my car or my money back.

MS. GRASSO: Have you hired a lawyer to try to help you get it back?

Q: Three lawyers in Suffolk County won't take the case because it's a fight against Suffolk County.

MS. GRASSO: Mickey, what do you think about this instance? Well, I mean, police right away, if you have a lot of money, they suspect there's a drug transaction.

MR. SHERMAN: Yeah, or you're a courier or something. That's not an unusual situation at all. I can't believe that with nothing else they're taking--they've kept the car and the money. I mean, there was no--did the dog hit on it for cocaine or anything like that, or no?

Q: No dog was involved.

MR. SHERMAN: No dog was involved?

Q: No, sir.

MR. SHERMAN: And the papers were in order on the car and everything like that?

Q: Yes.

MR. SHERMAN: And they didn't arrest you for anything?

Q: Never been arrested.

MR. SHERMAN: Are you on probation or parole for anything like that?

Q: No probation, no parole.

MR. SHERMAN: Nothing. And no one ratted you out for anything?

Q: I wasn't doing anything to get ratted out for.

MR. SHERMAN: No, but there's no informants involved that they said you did something wrong?

Q: No.

MR. SHERMAN: I think it's unconscionable. I don't--I'm not shocked by this story. It happens.

MS. GRASSO: But how does he get his--his car and his money back?

MR. SHERMAN: Well, he's going to--the state is going to wait for him to blink, it's as simple as that. They know that he's up against it, and they've got the money, they've got the car, and he's got to go through the motions. He's got to hire a lawyer, he's got to fight for it, and eventually he's going to get it back, but in the meantime, they're going to hold on to it and they're going to want to compromise. They'll probably say, "We'll give you back half the money."

MS. GRASSO: Really? Wow.

MR. SHERMAN: It stinks.

MS. GRASSO: That's amazing. All right, Dennis, so you have to hire a lawyer on that one.

Q: You know what the problem with that is?

MS. GRASSO: What?

Q: They've got my money, so how can I hire a lawyer?

MR. SHERMAN: That's the thing. Well, you've got to get a lawyer who believes enough in your case that you're going to promise him a piece of the money if he gets it.

MS. GRASSO: Because this way--I mean, there's no other way you're going to be able to get out of that. Thanks for calling, and good luck with that.

The show was attended by a criminal defense attorney and a Connecticut state trooper and all they can offer this victim is "good luck". Right. The fact is, he would probably be better off financially to accept "half the money" back and let it go. Apparently this offer is commonly made by the extortionists.

You can read my views on why you will pay a dear price when the eye of the "law enforcement" people fall on you, guilty or not, in "The Devil is in the Details: The Forfeiture Example of American 'Justice'" at 
http://www.LewRockwell.com/orig/felkins11.html.

Leon Felkins
[email protected]
Executive Director,
FEAR.org