It’s been 3 years since Adam and Jennifer Perry had their money seized by the Illinois State Police, but they are no closer to retrieving the $107,520 stolen from them than they were when the incident happened. Indeed, many Americans are on the same boat as them, with law enforcement agents taking and keeping their financial and material assets without any justifiable legal rationale.
“In a letter filed earlier this month, Adam claims that the taken cash came from savings and disability settlements and payments. ‘Our faith in the United States legal system has been shaken. Why are officer’s [sic] allowed to be judge, jury and executioner on the side of the road?’ the Perrys asked in a 2013 response to federal prosecutors.
Unfortunately, their case is not unique. An extensive investigation by The Washington Post into one federal forfeiture program found nearly 62,000 cash seizures since 9/11 where police did not use warrants or charge the owners with a crime. Out of those seizures, more than 1,700 were in Illinois alone.
Moreover, for federal civil forfeiture cases, property owners are not presumed innocent and do not have a right to an attorney. With few safeguards, police and prosecutors can profit from forfeiture. Illinois agencies received more than $186 million in federal forfeiture funds between 2000 and 2013 from the U.S. Department of Justice, according to the Institute for Justice’s report, Policing for Profit.”
Source: Institute For Justice
Photo: stltoday.com
Tennessee has and will do the same thing and it takes a lot of money and time to get your money ,they concider the money as money used to buy drugs or from the sale of drugs
Dennis Chapman:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/?tid=a_inl-amp
That’s just out right stealing any one involved needs go to jail and loose there job.state of Illinois needs investigation for this I think. It is called racketeering.
Dennis Chapman:
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.washingtonpost.com/amphtml/news/wonk/wp/2015/11/23/cops-took-more-stuff-from-people-than-burglars-did-last-year/?client=ms-android-americamovil-us
Being a former officer my self . I personally think that it is wrong to take anything, especially money when no crime has been committed. This is as far as I’m concerned is legal theft. Something needs to be done about it. Just plain old greed. Illinois has always been a crooked state as long as I can remember. Look what we got for a president from it. Need I say anymore?
First probably a f**e story and if true it NOT the cop keeping it – the court system is the one finding there something amiss. Again if this is true why do some rush to judgment that the cop is “bad” when in fact the courts are in charge of what happens to the money?
I heard about it sometime ago. From what I can remember it was on tv news. I have heard of things like this before. Several years ago. In Missouri around Springfield. A trooper stopped a man in a rental car. Found two million dollars. Man said it wasn’t his money. Patrol took money man went on his way. Be me I’d said didn’t trust banks. Kept my money close to me to protect it. All he was stopped for was speeding. Patrol said they could have it. They said no reason to have taken money. No other violations found. Go figure.
It’s wrong when the asset is really suspicious.
Oklahoma does the same thing and Arizona to name a few.