Wholy smoke, is this real?

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Yes, that is correct. There are hundreds of people this has happened to. They seem to be usually lower income people who don't look like they will be able to mount a legal challenge.

But yes, it is basically open season on anyone carrying cash, and very common.
 
Originally Posted By: TooManyWheels
Yes, that is correct. There are hundreds of people this has happened to. They seem to be usually lower income people who don't look like they will be able to mount a legal challenge.

But yes, it is basically open season on anyone carrying cash, and very common.


Is this only in Tenaha County? or most of Texas?
 
Originally Posted By: PandaBear
http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/05/05/texas.police.seizures/index.html

Quote:
The Tennessee man says he was ordered to pull his car over and surrender his jewelry and $8,500 in cash that he had with him to buy a new car.

But Daniels couldn't go to the police to report the incident.

The men who stopped him were the police.


Sounds unbelievable. Can someone from Texas verifiy this?


Google "Tenaha Texas" and you"ll find more articles. Many more.
 
Some criminals wear badges. Some don't need no stinkin' badges.

Small town with small town corruption. I'm sure that it started out just shaking down alleged drug dealers. Then they found out that you could really rake in some booty.
 
Cash is still obviously valid currency, or I should hope so. But in this day and age of internet banking, money transfer...etc...very few people carry large amounts of pure cash on them, EXCEPT for crimminal elements.

WITH THIS IN MIND, if you are g-d forsakenly DUMB enough to carry a huge amount of straight cash on you for a purchase, instead uf using a MO, certified cheque, or wire transfer, you deserve what happens to you.

I mean, seriously, what legit businessman carries $50,000 CASH on him to buy a restaurant. If you are a 'man of means' you can figure out to transfer money in a less conspicuos way. If every time someone said 'honestly, officer, I'm on my way to buy a restaurant'...they got away with it.....
 
Very real, they are employed at all levels of government from the feds on down, and are an absolute disgrace to a free people. These are some of the very worst laws on the books, and are far more likely to affect ordinary people in their day to day lives than the Patriot Act or other arcane laws that people get so goofily wound up over.

Criminal forfeiture has always been around, but civil forfeiture really caught on in the late '80's, and can be a good old fashioned shakedown for its victims.

For a civil forfeiture, you don't have to be convicted of a crime, you don't even have to be charged with a crime, if you have property that is within one of the statutory classes where seizure is permitted, it can be seized. Legal action typically is an in rem proceeding by the government against the property (conveniently, the government gets to select the type of proceeding), the owner is a third party claimant, and since it is typically a civil proceeding chosen by the government, a prosecutor merely has to prove probable cause that the property is subject to forfeiture whereupon the burden of proof shifts to the claimant to prove that the property is not subject to forfeiture. Proof of a negative can be difficult.

Because proceeds of forfeiture are typically used to fund government and law enforcement, there is a strong financial incentive to seize property. Imagine that.
 
The same thing has been done in Louisiana. The cops see (mostly) a latino, or an African American, then they shake them down. Many legal latino's carry cash to take back to their family Mexico, and the cops say that it is drug money, and take it.

Also read about one woman, (not latino or African American) from the West Coast, who had her money taken while in Louisiana. Last I heard, (a few years ago) she still had not gotten her money back.

I tell all my friends that when they travel by car, DO NOT carry large amounts of cash. When you need cash, go to the ATM. I travel often, and I only carry enough cash to get to my destination. I can get more at the money machines. It is too easy for the police to say it is drug money and take it. This goes for any state, not just Texas and Louisiana.

As an added note, I've seen the following in both North Carolina and in Louisiana. Driving down the Interstate, and you will see a temporary sign stating that "All vehicles MUST STOP, Five Miles Ahead, for Illegal Drug Inspection". (The one I saw in Louisiana had two signs a quarter mile apart). Well, guess what, no vehicle inspection five miles ahead, however a half mile, or one mile past the sign, there will be a rural exit. Any car that gets off at that rural exit, gets inspected.
Cops think (rightly so) that those with drugs will see the signs, and want to exit before the mandatory inspection. At the one in North Carolina, I could see the cops waiting, as I passed the rural exit. They are not dumb.
 
Originally Posted By: addyguy
I mean, seriously, what legit businessman carries $50,000 CASH on him to buy a restaurant. If you are a 'man of means' you can figure out to transfer money in a less conspicuos way. If every time someone said 'honestly, officer, I'm on my way to buy a restaurant'...they got away with it.....


"Legit" businessman commonly carry this kind of cash around every day. If you're out and about and see a piece of equipment or property that you want to buy on the spot, are you going to call your secretary to bring you a check? What if it is Saturday and the Bank is closed?

Cash is legal tender for all debts public or private. Having it is not a crime.
 
The best one I heard was for growing pot in the basement. The house was unremarkable (urban row home) ..the guy was a roofer ..and not upscale in lifestyle or whatever. That is, it was obvious that his home/possessions were not the proceeds of an illegal enterprise. He was just a confirmed pot smoker. Since he was the over the possession level, everything he owned was seized. It was so lame that they allowed him to continue living there while the paper work went through.

The thing about the drug seizures is that they auction the stuff off before you even go to trial. If you're found not guilty, your stuff is gone. It could have been land that was in your family's name for 300 years. Too bad.
 
Originally Posted By: Win
Originally Posted By: addyguy
I mean, seriously, what legit businessman carries $50,000 CASH on him to buy a restaurant. If you are a 'man of means' you can figure out to transfer money in a less conspicuos way. If every time someone said 'honestly, officer, I'm on my way to buy a restaurant'...they got away with it.....


"Legit" businessman commonly carry this kind of cash around every day. If you're out and about and see a piece of equipment or property that you want to buy on the spot, are you going to call your secretary to bring you a check? What if it is Saturday and the Bank is closed?

Cash is legal tender for all debts public or private. Having it is not a crime.


Most businessmen carry credit cards for this kind of thing.

Yes, cash is legal tender. Law-abiding citizens carrying large amounts of it in todays society is stupid and unnecessary.

You're just asking to get robbed, OR mistaken for a drug dealer. People know this, and should avoid this situation. There are many ways to.
 
Originally Posted By: addyguy
...very few people carry large amounts of pure cash on them,


Pure cash? As opposed to what... impure cash? defiled cash?

Is possessing or using actual currency reason for suspicion now?

Or only "large" amounts? Whats the definition of "large"? More than $1,000? More than $100?
 
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Law-abiding citizens carrying large amounts of it in todays society is stupid and unnecessary.


Oh ..do you mean the legal system is a booby trap ..looking for boobs to trap? I agree. I still don't see where conducting otherwise legal activity, however unconventional or deemed "unwise", should result in sanctioned harm to a citizen.
 
And all this time I thought that it was the courts that determined whether someone was guilty of crime or not.

Apparently, the South works differently.
 
Originally Posted By: addyguy
I mean, seriously, what legit businessman carries $50,000 CASH on him to buy a restaurant. If you are a 'man of means' you can figure out to transfer money in a less conspicuos way. If every time someone said 'honestly, officer, I'm on my way to buy a restaurant'...they got away with it.....


I used to carry around $10k to pay for wedding expense, to a restaurant that offer different rate based on payment method.

Maybe I'm an unofficial drug dealer during my wedding prep time.

If you ever buy a used car you will know a lot of seller don't trust personal check, and a lot of buyer don't trust giving a check in advance before actually getting the item.

Then there is the education level and credit history thing. Not everyone has a checking account and not everyone has an ATM/Credit card.
 
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Apparently, the South works differently.

As stated above, the Feds have the same laws.

But don't worry, the government is here to help you. This is simply a cash carrying tax that will no doubt be used to help other people in society...
 
Originally Posted By: Tempest
As stated above, the Feds have the same laws.

But don't worry, the government is here to help you. This is simply a cash carrying tax that will no doubt be used to help other people in society...


I though you were against government abuse? Since when does government stop people on the street and check for the amount of cash they carry?

And since when did the FED let people off a drug related charge if they surrender their cash?
 
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