Police Take $10,000 From Couple With Baby On The Way
Tonya Smith and her husband Dimitrios allege that several weeks ago, back in June, the couple were stopped by West Virginia state troopers and that traffic stop ended-up costing them 10,000 after it was confiscated by police.
Smith is a registered nurse who happened to be on maternity leave, she was allegedly 8 months pregnant at the time of the stop.
According to the couple, they had just decided to cash out at the casino and they were on their way to spend their winnings in Hollywood, West Virginia. The couple had allegedly carried documentation with them to demonstrate that the funds had come from legitimate casino winnings (several jackpot winnings). They describe the lengthy encounter with police as a highway robbery. According to reports, officers had thoroughly searched the vehicle, eventually brought K-9 dogs to help them search, and the couple say that they had been peppered with questions about illegal drug activity, guns, and smuggling etc.
"I was 34 weeks pregnant and standing on the side of the road for almost two hours and my husband is in handcuffs and not even arrested," - Smith describes the encounter.
No drugs were reportedly found..
Civil Asset Forfeiture
It was another scenario of civil asset forfeiture taking place, which has happened to many Americans in a variety of states that have had private property confiscated from them even though they've never been charged with any wrongdoing in relation to that confiscation.
Some of them have fought back and they've managed to get their assets back, many others haven't been as lucky.
For this couple, Smith and her partner, it's alleged that the West Virginia State Police had only become interested in returning their funds to them soon after the situation started to gain attention in the media.
Reports suggest that after a local paper started to question the incident, and a West Virginia councilman had allegedly visited their home personally to hear about what took place, that the police then opted to return the funds.
“"I felt like I was in a movie. This is not the kind of law we should be living with in our country." - said Smith of the incident.
West Virginia reportedly doesn't maintain any records on their forfeiture spending coincidentally and so it's difficult to find out how they are spending the money or how much they might be taking from the people in this way.
Not everyone who is going to be targeted under this policy, is going to have the means to fight back for justice and to stand up for what is right. It works for the benefit of the state that they don't have the means to protect themselves, because at the end of the day it's the state that profits. Over the years they've managed to confiscate billions of dollars in funds by taking cars, cash, houses, and a lot more, from innocent Americans many of whom were never charged with a crime.
Pics:
pic 1 - Youtube
pic 2-pixabay
Civil asset forfeiture is blatantly an unreasonable search and seizure, and therefore expressly unconstitutional. Or at least it would be, if the courts actually cared about the Constitution.
@doitvoluntarily another shameful act of public officials, always shield themselves with civil forfeiture to do their corrupt works.
Thank you very much for disseminating and publicizing this news
I wish you a great day
Theft. Pure and simple.
Hy governments that take advantage of citizens, others exceed the laws in a brutal way, but I do not know if that is better or worse because in Venezuela there are no laws all do what they want and the police do nothing
Good information, good news, your blog often makes me reflect
I've wondered if the metallic security strip in bills, I think $20.00 notes and larger, allows for large stacks of cash being easily detected via electronic scanning means. It would explain how easy they are able to "happen" upon large amounts of cash in a vehicle.
It doesnt but good idea i guess ?
How can you be so sure?
You're saying that PD have a an antennae to detect metallic strips in a dollar bill inside of a metal car.
It wouldn't be just an antennae. It would have to be some radar-like technology that returns a "hit" if encountering a large stack of bills. Not entirely out of the realm of reality, but I'm also not saying that it exists, more musing upon the idea. I mean, I've read about these instances of Civil Asset Forfeiture for about a decade now and the profit motive is a strong one!
Best to you!
Yeah West Virginia CAF is a bitch
This happens all the time in the poverty stricken parts of my city... not just with traffic stops.
The Policy Enforcers take our money because it is suspected as drug money. No reasonable explanation for the suspicion though.
These people should be protecting us, not robbing us on the side of the road. Karma will suck for them. Thanks @doitvoluntarily.
Good = Respecting and protecting innocent life.
Evil = Hurting, oppressing, or killing, for fun or for profit.
Status quo = Power, profit, and control.
How have we as a society allowed those who are supposed to be the good guys who "serve and protect" we the people, become the bad guys who hurt, oppress, or kill for fun or for profit. Certainly not all cops are evil, but the actions of the overwhelming majority do overshadow the actions of the good minority.