To my cites      Back to enforcement      Back to drug history

1 2

Asset forfeiture

Innocent until proven guilty? Not always! Sometimes when your proven innocent but you're still guilty. Law enforcement found 500 marijuana plants on disabled retirees land, a 37 acre farm. Delmar Puryear said he hand no knowledge of the plants and a jury found him innocent. But the federal government refused to stop its efforts to seize land until Mr. Puryear agreed to pay $12,000(9 ).

Early on October 2, 1992 at Santa Monica Mountains near Malibu, 61 year old Donald Scott were sleeping they awoke to a 27 man police task force smashing through there door with guns drawn. His wife raced down stairs and was confronted by a group of men holding guns. She yelled : "Don't shoot me! Don't kill me!". Responding to his wife's pleas Donald race downstairs with a gun. He was ordered to lower his weapon as he obeyed he was shot dead. The reason for the raid was a false tip about Marijuana growing on his property. An investigation into matter showed not only did the police have lack of evidence about a growing operation they also lied to obtain to the judge to get the search warrant. There is also evidence that the police hoped t seize the property and sell it to the Park Service. District Attorney Michael Bradbury "It is the District Attorney's opinion that the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department was motivated, at least in part, by a desire to seize and forfeit the ranch for the government.". During the raid not a trace of marijuana was found(10 ).

The feds seized a yacht called the Ark Royal, after finding cannabis seeds in a trash can (11 ). The yacht was returned to the owner after contraversy errupted the owner stil had to pay $1,600.00 to get his boat back (12 ).

The yacht that sunk presidential hopeful chances of being president called "Monkey Business" was seized by the feds when they discover 1 gram of cannabis (13 ).

Another yacht was seized when the feds discovered traces of cocain on a dollar bill and a bag with marijuana residue (14 ).

Proving that asset forfeiture isn't just for drugs toward the end of 2010 it was alleged that United States Marshals Service acted improperly with Bernard L. Madoff forfeited property. It was alleged that the US Marshals sold Property for far less than it was worth. Their was no public notice or competitive biding. That buyers were found through business contacts, and a secret bank account was kept out of reach by government auditors (15 ).