Did you know that in most of America, police can take your property, even if you did nothing wrong?
They don’t have to charge you with a crime. They don’t have to take you to court.
They can just say they suspect you of a crime. Then they can grab your money, your car, and sometimes, even your house!
It’s legal because of something called “civil asset forfeiture.”
My new video shows how police abuse such laws to take things from innocent people.
Restaurant owner Mandrel Stuart was stopped by police in Virginia when driving. Stuart thought, at worst, he’d get a ticket. But in his car was $18,000, which he planned to use to buy equipment for his restaurant.
When the cops saw that, they said they didn’t believe it was for his restaurant, and they confiscated it.
“They said that I was a drug dealer,” he complains. “They had no proof!”
In most states, they don’t need proof. The money alone gives police “probable cause” that a crime was committed. Still, the police let him go. But they kept his money.
Anthonia Nwaorie, a Texas nurse, worked years to save $40,000 so she could start a medical clinic in Nigeria.
At the airport, however, Border Patrol asked her about the money. No matter what she said, they didn’t believe her.
“They poured everything, my clothes, my personal things, on the floor … I didn’t know they were going to take the money!”
They did, although they never charged her with a crime.
Fortunately, she turned out to be one of the rare victims who got the money back.
Libertarian law firm the Institute for Justice helped her sue the Border Patrol.
Her attorney, Dan Alban, says, “If we were drawing up a diagram of a criminal organization, you would call civil asset forfeiture money laundering!”
All this sounds a little fishy to me. Why risk being robbed and losing thousands and thousands of dollars when a simple large transaction can be completed using a plastic card? Somebody is trying to hide something. But then again, maybe they just don’t want big brother knowing their business.