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By Jarret Wollstein
http://educate-yourself.org/cn/99-00/cnlootingofamerica30dec0.shtml
http://www.escapeartist.com
12-30-00

            'A police dog scratched at your luggage, so we're confiscating your life savings and you'll never get it back.' Police stopped 49-year-old Ethel Hylton at Houston's Hobby Airport and told her she was under arrest because a drug dog had scratched at her luggage. Agents searched her bags and strip-searched her, but they found no drugs. They did find $39,110 in cash, money she had received      from an insurance settlement and her life savings; accumulated through over 20 years of work as a hotel housekeeper and hospital janitor. Ethel Hylton completely documented where she got the money and was never charged with a crime. But the police kept her money anyway. Nearly four years later, she is still trying to get her money back.
 

Ethel Hylton is just one of a large and growing list of Americans - now numbering in the hundreds of   thousands - who have been victimized by civil asset forfeiture. Under civil asset forfeiture, every-thing you own can be legally taken away even if you are never convicted of a crime.

Suspicion of offenses which, if proven in court, might result in a $200 fine or probation, are being used to justify seizure of tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of property. Totally innocent Americans are losing their cars, homes and businesses, based on the claims of anonymous informants that illegal transactions took place on their property. Once property is seized, it is virtually impossible to get it back.

Property is now being seized in every state and from every social group. Seizures include pocket money confiscated from public-housing residents in Florida; cars taken away from men suspected of soliciting prostitutes in Oregon; and homes taken away from ordinary, middle class Americans whose teenage children are accused of selling a few joints of marijuana. No person and no property is immune from seizure. You could be the next victim. Here are some examples:

In Washington, D.C. police stop black men on the streets in poor areas of the city, and "routinely confiscate small amounts of cash and jewelry". Most confiscated property is not even recorded by police departments. "Resident Ben Davis calls it 'robbery with a badge'." [USA Today, 5/18/92]

In Iowa, "a woman accused of shoplifting a $25 sweater had her $18,000 car - specially equipped for her handicapped daughter - seized as the 'getaway vehicle'." [USA Today, 5/18/92]

Detroit drug police raided a grocery store, but failed to find any drugs. After drug dogs reacted to three $1.00 bills in the cash register, the police seized $4,384 from cash registers and the store safe. According to the Pittsburgh Press, over 92% of all cash in circulation in the U.S. now shows some drug residue.

In Monmouth, New Jersey, Dr. David Disbrow was accused of practicing psychiatry without a license. His crime was providing counselling services from a spare bedroom in his mother's house. Counselling does not require a license in New Jersey. That didn't stop police from seizing virtually everything of value from his mother's home, totalling over $60,000. The forfeiture squad confiscated furniture, carpets, paintings, and even personal photographs.

Kathy and Mark Schrama were arrested just before Christmas 1990 at their home in New Jersey. Kathy was charged with taking $500 worth of UPS packages from neighbors' porches. Mark was charged with receiving stolen goods. If found guilty, they might have paid a small fine and received probation. The day after their arrest, their house, cars and furniture were seized. Based upon mere accusation, $150,000 in property was confiscated, without trial or indictment. Police even took their clothing, eyeglasses, and Christmas presents for their 10-year-old son. The incentive for government   agencies to expand forfeiture is enormous. Agencies can easily seize prop-erty and they usually keep what they take. According to the Pittsburgh Press, 80% of seizure victims are never even charged with a crime. Law enforcement agencies often keep the best seized cars, watches and TVs for their "departments", and sell the rest.

How extensive are seizures in America today? The Washington Post has reported that the U.S. Marshals Service alone had an inventory of over $1.4 billion in seized assets, including over 30,000 cars, boats, homes and businesses. Federal and state agencies seizing property now include the FBI, the DEA, the U.S.Marshals Service, the Coast Guard, the IRS, local police, highway patrol, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, FDA, and the Bureau of Land Management. Asset forfeiture is a growth industry. Seizures have increased from $27 million in 1986, to over $644 million in 1991 to over $2 billion today.

 Civil asset forfeiture defines a new standard of justice in  America; or more precisely, a new standard of injustice.  Under civil seizure, property, not an individual is charged with an offense. Even if you are a totally innocent owner, the government can still confiscate your ''guilty'' property.

If government agents seize your property under civil asset forfeiture, you can forget about being innocent until
proven guilty, due process of law, the right to an attorney, or even the right to trial. All of those rights only
exist if you are charged with a criminal offense; that is, with an offense which could result in your imprisonment.
If you (or your property) are accused of a civil offense (offenses which could not result in your imprisonment),
 the Supreme Count has ruled that you have no presumption of innocence, no right to an attorney, and no
 protection from double jeopardy.

Seizure occurs when government takes away your property. Forfeiture is when legal title is permanently  transferred to the state. To get seized property returned, you have to fight the full resources of your state or
 federal government; sometimes both! You have to prove your property's "innocence" by documenting how you
 earned every cent used to pay for it. You have to prove that neither you nor any ofyour family members ever
 committed an illegal act involving the property.

To get a trial, you have to post a non-refundable "bond" of 10% of the value of your property. You have to pay
 attorney fees - ranging from $5,000 to over $100,000 - out of your own pocket. Money you pay your attorney is also subject to seizure (either before or after the trial) if the government alleges that those funds were "tainted".
And you may be forced to go through trial after trial, because under civil seizure the Constitutional protection
against "double jeopardy" doesn't apply. Once your property is seized, expect to spend years fighting government agencies and expect to be impoverished by legal fees - with no guarantee of winning - while the government keeps your car, home and bank account.

 In fact, in a recent Supreme Court decision (Bennis v. Michigan), the Court said explicitly that innocent owners
 can be deprived of their property if it's used to facilitate a crime, even without the owner's knowledge or consent.
That means you can now lose your home or business because of the action of employees, relatives, or guests,
over whom you have absolutely no control.

Police and prosecutors have incentive to confiscate as much as possible.

Not only do police and prosecutors have the power to seize anything you own on the slightest pretext, they also
have the incentive. The dirty little secret of the forfeiture racket is that police, prosecutors and judges can benefit
personally by stealing your property.

Brenda Grantland - America's leading asset forfeiture defense attorney - gives these examples of government
 greed in her book Your House Is Under Arrest:

Suffolk County, NY. District Attorney James M.Catterton drives around in a BMW 735I that was seized
 from an alleged drug dealer. He spent $3,412 from the forfeiture fund for mechanical and body work, including
 $75 for pin-striping.

Warren County, NJ. The assistant chief prosecutor drives a confiscated yellow Corvette.

Little Compton, RI. The seven member police force received $3.8 million from the federal forfeiture fund,
and spent it on such things as a new 23-foot boat with trailer, and new Pontiac Firebirds. But that's just the tip
of the iceberg. The head of one Los Angeles police forfeiture squad claims his group personally pocketed
over $60 million in seized property.

Why do our courts tolerate these outrageous legalized thefts? Because they get their cut. It's completely legal
 for confiscated property to be used by police, prosecutors and judges, so long as it's for official business. In 1996, a federal district court even ruled that police can personally receive 25% of the value of any confiscated home, car, or business.

Some police will kill you for your property

 In Malibu, California, park police tried repeatedly to buy the home and land of 61-year-old, retired rancher Don
Scott, which was next to national parkland. Scott refused. On the morning of October 2, 1992, a task force of 26
LA county sheriffs, DEA agents and other cops broke nto Scott's living room. When he heard his wife,  Frances, scream, he came out of his upstairs bedroom with a gun over his head. Police yelled at him to lower his gun. He did, and they shot him dead.

Police claimed to be searching for marijuana which they never found. Ventura County DA Michael Bradbury
concluded that the raid was "motivated at least in part, by a desire to seize and forfeit the ranch for the government . . [The] search warrant became Donald Scott's death warrant."

Jarret B. Wollstein
           _____

Jarret B. Wollstein works as an independent writer and direct-mail marketing specialist. He is a founder and
director of the International Society for Individual Liberty (ISIL), an international human-rights and free-market
networking organization with members in over eighty countries. His ISIL issue papers have sold over two
million copies and have been translated into six languages.

Mr. Wollstein is the author of 300 articles and audio-tapes and four books, including Society Without Coercion (1969) and The Rage of lslam (1992). He is  currently completing his fifth book-The Clinton Health Care Disaster. He is also a former editor of the Individualist magazine and the Financial Privacy Report.

Mr. Wollstein's essay appeared as a two-part series in the January and February 1994 issues of Freedom Daily,
 published by The Future of Freedom Foundation - For  more information on Forfeiture in the USA, view the
 Forfeiture Endangers American Rights (FEAR) website:  http://www.fear.org -