OK Sheriff indicted for bribery, extortion after traffic stop

Cops are messed up

But probably was drug money

Sounds like a good deal for both sides

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Sounds like a good deal for both sides

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If I had drugs on me I'd take that deal

Is anything over a certain amount of cash automatically considered the result of drug proceeds? I am not sure how this money could be proven to be drug related unless this was a sting.

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this money could be proven to be drug related

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The burden of proof is on the defendant to prove he's an innocent owner. If he either waives his right to a trial, or can't afford an attorney, money goes bye bye regardless of how ridiculous the circumstances are.

This isn't a bug, this is a complication of the feature. Civil Forfeiture is how many police departments stay afloat instead of cutting costs:

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Hundreds of state and local departments and drug task forces appear to rely on seized cash, despite a federal ban on the money to pay salaries or otherwise support budgets. The Post found that 298 departments and 210 task forces have seized the equivalent of 20 percent or more of their annual budgets since 2008.

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There have been 61,998 cash seizures made on highways and elsewhere since 9/11 without search warrants or indictments through the Equitable Sharing Program, totaling more than $2.5 billion. State and local authorities kept more than $1.7 billion of that while Justice, Homeland Security and other federal agencies received $800 million. Half of the seizures were below $8,800.

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Torrell

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Get off my lawn!

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I didn't read anything in either article saying they couldn't account for the money. My hunch is that the popo saw the cash and thought it was easy dough.

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Sure, and I think common sense says that the people who were arrested let the money walk knowing they were screwed because it was drug money. CAF should be unconstitutional, but I also don't believe there are a ton of innocent people getting caught up in the web.

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Well if the money is legal it is relatively easy to prove your innocence. This is guilty until proven innocent, and I hate that on principle, but it's not as you should drive around on pins and needles if you go get $50k in cash from the bank in order to purchase a vehicle.

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If you read the link from earlier on the page you'll hopefully feel more empathy. The departments do this to steal money from people and fund their own salaries. The expense of fighting an appeal process to have your money returned is a terrible cost since it costs people time and money and may mean they have to prove their innocence in a kangaroo court which receives funding from the seizures.

The entire process runs exactly opposite to our core values (of freedom from unreasonable search and seizure and the right to be presumed innocent).

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Again, I don't like the law, but if you've got $10k in cash on you and you cannot validate the source of those funds, there is in incredibly high likelihood it is from illegal sources.

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Oh frick that, validating whether it was gotten through illicit means is the job of the police.

Mandating someone carrying around high amounts of cash to prove it isn't drug money is very much assuming guilt and making the perp prove their innocence- this goes against every aspect of how our justice system is supposed to operate.