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Articles Tagged with california

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bills-cash-collection-47344-300x212In the early hours of January 10, 2017, Zhimin Peng of Chicago was traveling through Boone County, Missouri when he was pulled over by Deputy Patrick Richardson. Peng had been driving his rental car at 94 mph. Together with Peng in the car was Ting Wei Huang. They told Richardson that they were on a short break from college and were traveling from Chicago to San Francisco.

Missouri State Highway Patrol Trooper Matt Halford soon joined Richardson. Halford obtained permission to search Huang’s possessions. When Halford opened a bag in the trunk, he saw it contained a large amount of cash. Another officer, Kevin Purdy of the Columbia Police Department arrived with his drug dog, Duncan; the dog alerted officers to the odor of narcotics in several bags in the trunk. The bags contained nearly $627,000 in cash.
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adventure-asphalt-california-533671-300x200In December 2017, Zeke Flatten was pulled over while driving on Highway 101 in California. He was traveling south through Humboldt County and was stopped a little way north of the Mendocino County line. Zeke was not speeding, nor breaking any other traffic laws

At first, the officers did not identify which law enforcement department they worked for. They did not wear departmental badges, nor did they have name tags. They had pulled him over in an unmarked, black Police Interceptor.

As Zeke later said, “At this point, I really felt something was wrong.” Zeke, a resident of Texas, was traveling in a rental car. He showed the officers the car rental agreement and his driver’s license.
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In January, FBI agents seized $77,010 in cash from a couple traveling from Dallas to California. The man and woman say they intended to use the money to buy bitcoins. The FBI, however, believes it is drug money and has begun civil asset forfeiture proceedings to permanently acquire the cash.

The man and woman, who have not been named, checked their bags into their flight at Dallas Love Field. A Southwest Airlines employee noticed that the two bags—a duffel bag and a backpack—had the “pungent and distinctive” aroma of marijuana. The employee also noted that there were “wads of USD spilling out of the backpack.” A police dog then confirmed the presence of drugs on both the duffel bag and backpack.
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On February 18, 2016, armed police raided the business and home of Maricel and Paul Fullerton in Woodland, California. In what looked like a major drug bust, police seized 22 pounds of processed cannabis, firearms, and $55,000 in cash. The only thing that seemed odd was that Maricel works as a hospice nurse, while Paul is a retired fire captain.

For two and a half years, the Fullertons fought to clear their names and repossess their property and cash. This month, the Fullertons finally won their civil asset forfeiture case which sought the return of the money.
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Josh Gingerich of Yuba City in northern California buys and flips trucks for a living. On a buying trip in February, the DEA stopped Josh at the airport and confiscated the $29,000 in cash he was carrying. Josh was not arrested, nor did he commit any crime. Despite this, the DEA is refusing to give his money back.

Law enforcement was able to take Josh’s money using a process called civil asset forfeiture. This is a legal procedure where property or cash can be seized if it has been suspected of involvement in a crime. As it is a civil and not a legal procedure, in most states property owners do not need to be charged with a crime before their property may be taken.
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