Friday, July 13, 2001

Day by day, at ever increasing speed, "The Land of the Free" continues to devolve into a police state. The signs are everywhere; the following article illustrates the point perfectly. On the individual level, there are preventive measures one can take to reduce the likelihood of, or to outright prevent, the following tyrannical scenarios. I will comment on some solutions at the end of this piece. -- Gordon Phillips

Government Property Seizures
Out Of Control

-- by Jarret Wollstein

Across America, the Drug Enforcement Administration is seizing the luggage, cash and cars of hapless travelers. Mere possession of a large amount of cash or a drug dog barking at your luggage is sufficient probable cause for police to legally seize everything you are carrying under America's new civil forfeiture laws.

In Albuquerque, N.M., in February 2000, DEA agents detained Sam Thach, who was traveling on Amtrak from Fullerton, Calif., to Boston, and seized $147,000 in cash he was carrying. Thach had no drugs. His crime? He had bought a one-way ticket for cash and didn't give Amtrak his phone number. (1)

The DEA seized $640,000 from Jennifer Leigh Ames while she was traveling on Amtrak on April 5, 2001. Agents say she looked nervous and had refused permission to search her luggage. (1)

Former Newark, N.J., policeman Carlos Hernandez discovered police searching his Amtrak sleeper cabin and demanding to search his luggage on July 22, 1999. Hernandez's crime? He's Hispanic and paid for his $694 ticket in cash. (2)

At Houston's Hobby Airport, police stopped 49-year-old Ethel Hylton and seized her luggage because a drug dog had scratched it. Agents searched her bags and strip-searched her but found no drugs. They did find $39,110 in cash from an insurance settlement and her life savings, accumulated through over 20 years of work as a hotel housekeeper and hospital janitor.

Ms. Hylton completely documented where she had gotten the money and was never charged with a crime. But the police kept her money anyway. Destitute, she had no way to fight them.

These outrageous seizures are completely legal and have been upheld by the highest courts in the land, including the U.S. Supreme Court. 

The DEA's Web site claims, "Property is seized by the DEA only when it is determined to be a tool for, or the proceeds of, illegal activities such as drug trafficking, organized crime, or money laundering." But the above examples show the reality.

Under civil asset forfeiture, your property - not you - is charged with a crime. Hence the bizarre title of civil forfeiture cases: "United States vs. one 1998 Mercedes Benz," "California vs. 1711 Main Street," and so forth.

Once your property is charged with a crime, it can be seized and kept by police, even if you are never convicted of anything. An appeals court in Florida even ruled that police can personally receive bounties of 25 percent of the value of anything they seize from you, such as your car, bank accounts or home.

There are now more than 400 federal offenses and thousands of state and local offenses for which your cash, car, bank accounts and home can be seized - including shoplifting, hiring an illegal alien such as a maid (California), playing a car stereo too loud (New York), transporting illegal fireworks, gambling, having illegal drugs on your property, and merely discussing violating any law ("conspiracy"), such as underpaying your taxes.

More than $1 billion in property is now seized without trial each year from innocent Americans, according to the national forfeiture defense organization FEAR (Forfeiture Endangers American Rights) (3). Seizures range from the pocket cash of poor street people ... to the cars of men accused of soliciting prostitutes ... to multimillion-dollar apartment buildings.

Once police seize your property, the burden of proof is on you to prove your property's innocence. Any suspected illegal actions of your relatives, guests, friends and employees on or even near your property are sufficient grounds to seize it.

In Montgomery, Ala., police seized the home of 69-year-old Gussie Mae Gantt after videotaping police informants buying drugs in her yard. Ms. Gantt had previously called the police, complaining about drug-dealing in her neighborhood, and had posted no-trespassing signs. The drug dealers wouldn't stop - so police set up a drug deal and confiscated her home.

Easy Money for the Government

Once your home, car, and bank accounts are seized under civil asset forfeiture laws, you can pretty much forget about ever getting them back. It's you versus the police and courts, who divide up the proceeds from your property according to formulas such as "80 percent for police, 20 percent for the court."

If you want to fight seizure of your property, expect to spend at least $15,000 just to hire a competent asset defense attorney. Also expect the police to introduce hearsay evidence and to go through trial after trial, because the normal constitutional protections afforded criminal suspects don't apply to civil forfeiture of your property. (4)

With all of this easy confiscated money, asset confiscation is now big business across America. In Volusia County, Fla., police seized more than $8 million worth of cars from motorists stopped for minor traffic violations along Interstate 95. (5) In Alameda County, Calif., police auction off hundreds of seized cars and boats every month.

The latest wrinkle in civil asset forfeiture is police working with Amtrak, Greyhound, airlines and hotels to seize cash from travelers. The Albuquerque Journal reports that Amtrak gave the Drug Enforcement Administration access to its booking system in exchange for 10 percent of any monies seized by police.

The DEA has similar deals with airlines at major airports and many hotel and motel owners in Los Angeles, Las Vegas and other large cities. DEA agents are now permanently stationed at major airports and hotels.

So, the next time you pay for an Amtrak ticket, airline flight or hotel room in cash, don't be surprised if you get a knock on your door from machine-gun-armed DEA agents.

Sources:

(1) "Railway Bandits," Reason, July 2001, p. 14.

(2) "Railway Bandits," Reason, July 2001, p. 15.

(3) Forfeiture Endangers American Rights, www.fear.org.

(4) An analysis of U.S. asset forfeiture laws, with extensive legal citations, can be found in the book "Your House is Under Arrest," by Brenda Grantland, one of America's leading asset defense attorneys. Copies are available from ISIL, 707/726-8796,
www.isil.org. Another excellent source is "Forfeiting Our Property Rights," by U.S. Rep. Henry Hyde, R-Ill.

(5) Orlando Sentinel, Aug. 2, 1992.

Reprinted from NewsMax.com, Saturday, June 30, 2001
http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2001/6/27/191414.shtml

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Gordon Phillips comments: 

The only lawful function of government is the protection of life and property. Period. Yet the black robed cult now holds that property has no rights. James Madison would vehemently disagree. As would a prescient Thomas Jefferson who warned that the Republic would be undermined by the judiciary, which he likened to "sappers and miners" tunneling under and around the Constitution.

What to do? Remembering that every citizen is in the law enforcement business, strict adherence to the principles espoused and protected under the Constitution will come only when sufficient numbers of Americans have been suitably and sufficiently educated. Only then will true statesmen arise to be elected and appointed to public office and reverse the present sad state of affairs. Until that time, the attainment of any measure of true individual liberty will require ongoing creativity and presence of mind. 

As an aside, the booming home education movement holds great promise for America's future. If you know of a home schooling family, I suggest that you introduce them to the principles of Jeffersonian republicanism via the books "A Catechism On The Constitution" and "The Bill of Rights Exposed", both available at http://www.lexrex.com,

I mentioned some "solutions" in the preface to the above article. The First Commandment of asset protection reads: "A Thing Cannot Be Taken From Him Who Owneth It Not To Begin With". The victims about whom you just read (and there are many thousands more) were summarily relieved of their personal property for the simple reason that it was personal -- i.e., they owned it.

The application of a little logic makes clear that that which you do not own titled in your own name cannot be taken away from you. The truly wealthy (those descended from "old money") own nothing personally. They would not dream of it, understanding as they do that pride of ownership can be deadly. 

After all, when you can enjoy the exclusive use of property, both real or personal, for the rest of your life, why on earth would you want to OWN it when it could then be taken from you through lawsuit, judgment or plunder? And paying inheritance tax would simply be out of the question (how do you think the truly wealthy got that way?). 

In his day, Sir Robin of Lockesley had to contend with an evil, plundering Prince John. Today, we have benevolent Big Brother who approves of civil seizures based on zero probable cause and/or "racial profiling" -- all for your own good, of course, and "for the children". How else can crime be stopped? For a better understanding of this subject, view any version of "Robin Hood".

As for transporting large amounts of cash in a suitcase or otherwise, don't. Use a money belt to secret up to seven tightly rolled 100's. Tuck a few more in your underwear, perhaps some more bills folded in your shoes. Ladies, take advantage of your extra nooks and crannies. 

Ship the rest of the cash on ahead, but never all in the same package, nor sent on the same day from the same location using the same return address, nor by the same means of shipment. To do otherwise would violate the Second Commandment of asset protection: "Never Placeth All Thine Eggs In The Same Basket". To my knowledge, there is no law against sending Federal Reserve Notes through the mails or via private courier. 

Assuming that it was the intent of any of the above victims to travel privately, had they not used cash but instead had arranged to have their tickets purchased for them via a check drawn on the account of a nominee buying service or other third party, or had used a privately obtained Mastercard (a private debit card), the DEA likely would not have considered them suspicious (unless, of course, they also fit a "minority" or other "profile"). 

The new book "How To Be Invisible" by J.J. Luna (available at amazon.com) provides some useful privacy tips, although the author clearly knows nothing about federal tax law, or the lawful requirements pertaining to the use, request for, or provision of a SSN or EIN.

For a referral to a reputable and established provider of privacy services, or for asset protection, estate planning and business restructuring services designed for discerning people living in the real world, feel free to write me at gordon@informamerica.com.