Federal asset forfeiture . . . did you know the government could do this to you?

[XMan]

The Palm Beach Post (Florida) ran a front page story on Sunday, November 13, 1994 entitled "Family still fights for good name after feds seized ranch 6 years ago."

The story, written by Susannah A. Nesmith, features Donald Jones, 36, his sister Toni Wiersma, 40, and their 75-year-old mother Mildred Jones whose 4,000 acre family ranch was seized by then- acting U.S. Attorney Dexter Lehtinen in September 1988. The working ranch, valued at $6 million, is located on Brighton Seminole Indian Reservation in Glades County, near Lake Okeechobee.

The seizure--touted by Lehtinen as being the "largest federal property seizure in U.S. history"--was precipitated by the crash of a twin-engine Piper Navajo in February 1986. The badly-burned crash victims were never positively identified and no drugs were found in the wreckage. Still, law enforcement authorities concluded that the plane was carrying drugs because metal grommets were found in the plane's remains. According to court documents, the grommets were similar to those used in the duffel bags drug dealer typically pack their drugs in. The grommets were later lost by the Glades County Sheriff's Office. Nobody in the Jones family was charged with drug dealing, nor were any of the employees on the ranch.

The plane did not crash on the Jones ranch. It crashed about a mile from the ranch's western border. The ranch was seized because of the government's claim that the alleged drug plane was headed to the ranch before it crashed.

The government made the seizure after snitch Lazaro Fernandez, who was caught unloading drugs off a different plane, made a deal with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to stay out of jail. Fernandez fingered 10 other men and gave the government the "probable cause" it needed to seize the family ranch.

Fernandez's story changed repeatedly from 1988 to 1993. At first he said that he had never been to the Jones ranch. Later, he said that he did go to the ranch and saw a man named Richard I. Platt in a pickup truck near the alleged airstrip. By 1993, Fernandez stated that the man in the truck was not Platt, but Bill Wiersma, Toni Wiersma's husband. Fernandez also was caught lying under oath in a related criminal case in 1987.

In May 1994, U.S. District Judge William Hoeveler returned the ranch to the Jones family. Hoeveler wrote "It is of interest to note that, unlike the majority of the populace, Mr. Fernandez's memory seemed to improve rather than fade away with the passage of time, so that, remarkably, in 1993, he did what he couldn't do in 1988 or earlier: He identified Bill Wiersma."

Despite the return of their ranch, family members still don't think they received justice. Besides the $700,000 in legal fees they've expended, the family members say that the drug allegations have hurt the family's reputation. "I didn't step foot out of the house for three weeks," Mildred Jones said. "It was so embarrassing. I had never been in such a predicament."

The family has filed a slander suit against Lehtinen. They claim that Lehtinen, in a press conference held the day after the seizure implied that they were drug dealers. At the press conference, Lehtinen is reported to have said: "These properties are assets of drug dealers. This is a major effort to take the war on drugs to the drug smuggler's pockets." The slander suit was dismissed by Judge James C. Paine due to Lehtinen's prosecutorial immunity. The family is appealing the dismissal.

Lehtinen's nomination for permanent U.S. Attorney was refused by the Senate in 1991. Lehtinen resigned from office in 1992.

Donald Jones had this to say: "They say we're in a war, and in a war there's innocent victims. I guess we're the innocent victims."

Check out FEAR for more info . . .

 

[XMan]

Another example . . .

Richard "Dick" Low, M.D. is the Alabama doctor in question. He lives in Haleysville (205 + 486-3916 [o], 486-2400 His attorney, Michael Seibert, Esq. of Huntsville ((205)852-3592) tells me this in bare outline is the story:

Three years ago Dr. Low, at the request of a friend who had establish a new bank, order his then current banker to transfer his funds to the new bank. The amount was approximately $2.6 million and represented his life savings. The transfer was accomplished by a series of checks drawn by the bank official who had been instructed by Dr. Low. Dr. Low was unaware of the need to file a CTR and in any case his attorney says the banker should have filed it for him, as was customary, altho' the legal responsibility for filing was the doctor's under the 1986 Money Laundering Act.

Low's attorney, Mr. Seibert, believes the reason the US Attorney went after the doctor, who was never charged with any other extraneous crime, was because of the amount of money involved and the fact that the law makes a felony of not filing the CTR, punishable with possible jail and a $250,000 fine. Even if the government did not get all the doctor's money, they believed they would get something big in the way of bucks.

When Low put up a major fight (he even fired a professional PR firm), the government was angered and surprised and as a pressure tactic, they got the IRS to place liens on all his property and other assets because, with no cash available, he was unable to pay his usual income taxes when they became due. They also charged the doctor with conspiracy to obstruct justice, meaning he was fighting the government in every way he knew how. The court dismissed this ridiculous charge early on.

The end result was that Dr. Low, after trial in US District Court, was acquitted of all charges and his $2.6 million returned by court order. He then settled his tax situation with the IRS. However, he sued the government for $317,000 in interest he lost during the time they held his funds, won that case, and the government has appealed the ruling to the 11th Circuit where it is now pending.

Attorney Seibert says the case was a "nightmare" for the doctor, his wife and him as well. Seibert says the government attitude in this case was no different from Waco or Ruby Ridge, except no one died. He says the entire affair cost the doctor several hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees for both Seibert and Bo Edwards, a local criminal defense attorney who handled part of the case.

Seibert said he did not think Dr. Low would have any objection to our identifying him by name in our literature, since he welcomed publicity about his ordeal in order to warn others of what can happen.

 

[shifrbv]

I knew the IRS could put a lien on your accounts and basically hold it for as long as they liked. This happened to someone I knew who was having a problem with the IRS. His accounts were tied up for about 3 months and he had no access to them.

Just knowing that FEMA has put in place rules that suspend the Constitution "if a national emergency" is declared shows how far down the road we've gone.

 

[XMan]

The scary part about it is that you don't even have to be found guilty of crime. You can be accused of having illegal activity on your property (say you have a farm, and marijuana is growing on it somewhere), under foreiture laws your land and other assets can be seized.

This is apparently a huge funding source for many agencies.

 

[vi edit]

Lemme get this straight....

They seized a ranch that allegedly had a plane that allegedly was carrying drugs twords it?

Ok. In that case, then I want to seize my social security funds that I allegedly feel I'll never receive because some some suit up on capitol hill is allegedly blowing my social security contributions on blowjobs and half a kilo of cocaine.

 

[XMan]

I allegedly feel I'll never receive because some some suit up on capitol hill is allegedly blowing my social security contributions on blowjobs and half a kilo of cocaine.

Congress has their own retirement plan, but you don't see them robbing it to fund their social programs, do you?

 

[sandorski]

I remember watching Oprah, or Phil(can't remember..maybe it was 60 minutes..anywho) about an African-American male who traveled from one American city to another with $10k cash on hand. He owned/worked at a nursery and had made the trip to buy some stock. Someone at the airport noticed he had a lot of cash on hand and following procedures he called the proper authorities. Upon their arrival his cash was seized, he was took in for questioning, and he may have been charged. In the long run he was set free, but his cash was never returned to him(at the time of the story...about 7 years after the initial incident). This is a result of the "War on Drugs", any property can be seized without due course of the law. It is really a silent kind of Martial Law and the US has been living under it for some 20 years now.

 

[rudder]

it usually the same with the IRS. You are guilty then you have to prove your innocence to get your business back.

 

[Tiger]

I've got a similar situation going on here.
I rent a house on 2 and 1/4 acres. The landlords house is 150ft away and has another aprtment in the walk out basement. The landlords son was working outside and noticed some "weird" plants growing in a window of the other tennant. One leaf sticking up through the louvered shade. The landlord asked me to come look for backup ID and it sure as hell looks like Mary Jane to me.

The landlord wanted to call the cops immediately and I told him to wait and ask his lawyer about any possible seizure by law enforcement.

If it is the wonder weed growing he's just as liable as if he'd known about it from the start. We all lose our happy homes and he loses a lifetime of working to build something nice for his family.

The landlord is looking for a way to boot the other tennant out without involving the law.

 

[vi edit]

Tiger, I think I'd count my lucky stars that it's a harmless wacky weed. Could have been worse...like oh say a meth lab :Q