Cops seize $190K--with no charges filed (not PN) by canttakesky

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Cops seize $190K--with no charges filed (not PN)

POSTED BY: CANTTAKESKY
UPDATED: Friday, December 10, 2010 12:57
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VIEWED: 1961
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Friday, December 10, 2010 2:18 AM

http://www.chicagobreakingnews.com/2010/12/aurora-not-returning-money-
it-seized-despite-a-court-order.html

Quote:
Two brothers who say police unlawfully seized more than $190,000 from them during a traffic stop had been under surveillance and were suspected of drug-dealing, a lawyer for the city of Aurora said today during a court hearing.

Though neither Jose nor Jesus Martinez is charged with a crime, authorities are seeking forfeiture of $190,040 found in Jesus' truck when he was stopped by an Aurora police officer on Oct. 18.

A Kane County judge ordered the money returned, but the city has refused.

"The package is ready." Really? That's all the evidence they have?

There is no presumption of innocence anymore.

Can't Take (my gorram) Sky
------
Everything I say is just my opinion, not fact.

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Friday, December 10, 2010 3:41 AM

AURAPTOR

America loves a winner!

Drugs are bad, mmmmkay ?

" I do not love the bright sword for its sharpness, nor the arrow for its swiftness, nor the warrior for his glory. I love only that which they defend. "

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Friday, December 10, 2010 4:09 AM

PIRATENEWS

John Lee, conspiracy therapist at Hollywood award-winner History Channel-mocked SNL-spoofed PirateNew.org wooHOO!!!!!!

Silly sheeple...only cops can sell drugs.

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Friday, December 10, 2010 4:42 AM

DREAMTROVE

Rap

Drugs are profitable, mmmkay?

Anyone with even a rudimentary knowledge of science can tell that there is virtually zero difference between street drugs and what schools are prescribing for kids, or doctors for pain.

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Friday, December 10, 2010 5:17 AM

BLUEHANDEDMENACE

Well yes, there is a clear difference in those two types of drugs.

The street ones don't say Merck or Pfizer on them, nor do they lobby the govt for millions and millions of dollars....

As to this specific case, two things are abundantly clear to me. First is that this is clearly drug money. The second is that the cops are also clearly violating not only these people's rights, but a court order to return the funds.

The court order part is what is scary to me. How can these scumbags legally do this? Isn't the proces typically arrest, hearing, charges, oh wait, no charges, court says give the money back, cops give the money back...am I wrong here?

When did cops gain the authority to say no to the courts?

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Friday, December 10, 2010 6:28 AM

CANTTAKESKY

What this means is cops can jump to whatever conclusion they want without evidence.

A guy has $190K in his car. He happens to be hispanic. He couldn't have made that much money legally, let alone saved that much money. He MUST be a drug dealer. They have absolutely no evidence of it, but evidence doesn't matter anymore.

To me, this is one of the most regretable consequences of Bush's presidency, this slide down the path of extrajudicial justice. You act now on what you KNOW, not what you can prove. It's ok. Due process is a thing of the past.

Can't Take (my gorram) Sky
------
Everything I say is just my opinion, not fact.

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Friday, December 10, 2010 6:39 AM

BLUEHANDEDMENACE

Well, cops have been doing this forever, its hardly a new behavior.

What I dont get is that they are suppossed to do what the court orders, arent they?

Its the defying the court part of this story that just baffles and amazes me, I want to know under what argument are they getting away with this....

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Friday, December 10, 2010 6:43 AM

CANTTAKESKY

Quote:
Originally posted by BlueHandedMenace:
Well, cops have been doing this forever, its hardly a new behavior.

True. It just feels like they more more...BOLD... about it.

Can't Take (my gorram) Sky
------
Everything I say is just my opinion, not fact.

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Friday, December 10, 2010 7:41 AM

MINCINGBEAST

That no charges have yet been filed does not mean that no charges will be forthcoming. If the money is evidence of a potential crime, in an ongoing investigation, the police will not turn it over. Also, carrying $190k in your car seems a bit odd, doesn't it? Especially for hispanic sounding fellows. This alone establishes their guilt.

But ya'll are missing the point. Prescription or street, all drugs are the same--awesome. Whether its asprin, caffeine, marijuana, vicodin or crack, or even huffing gasoline, ingest every drug you can, in as great a quantity as you can manage. It'll make the pain of life pass, if but for a moment, and people around you will temporarily be less tedious.

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Friday, December 10, 2010 8:08 AM

STORYMARK

Quote:
Originally posted by dreamtrove:
Rap

Drugs are profitable, mmmkay?

Anyone with even a rudimentary knowledge of science can tell that there is virtually zero difference between street drugs and what schools are prescribing for kids, or doctors for pain.

Well, I know it's your mission to decry societal institutions at every opportunity.... I'm rather certain that the prescribed drugs are rarely if every cut with drain-o and other cleaners, which is rather common amongst the illegal variety.

"I thoroughly disapprove of duels. If a man should challenge me, I would take him kindly and forgivingly by the hand and lead him to a quiet place and kill him."

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Friday, December 10, 2010 8:35 AM

BLUEHANDEDMENACE

Mincing,

If you read the article, the phase of the investigation concerning the two men they took the money from is over. The judge ordered the cops to return the funds.

This isnt some claim by someone saying that cops ripped em off, its a municipality refusing to comply with a judicial order, and pursuing forfeiture of funds because, "well, we thought they committed a crime, and they had this money, so we took it, finders keepers!"

Like I said above, I have little doubt that these funds were drug money, but the point is cops need to PROVE that before they can steal, sorry confiscate, it from citizens.

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Friday, December 10, 2010 8:52 AM

MINCINGBEAST

I read the article. The Martinez brothers have not been charged. They are not presently subjects of a state investigation (but see below). There is a January 5th hearing date. The money was seized, and retained, as part of an ongoing investiation, and now the state will have to justify it at a hearing date. Feel free to ask me any READING comprehension QUESTIONS.

This link has more information on the case.

http://beaconnews.suntimes.com/news/2769122-418/money-aurora-police-br
others-drug.html

Quote:
In the meantime, Colton said it appears the Martinez brothers will have to go to federal court to get their money back. On Dec. 2, the federal government notified them they had filed a forfeiture claim to keep the money.

The reason given in the notification is the Martinezes violated the Drug Abuse Act, even though they were not arrested.

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Friday, December 10, 2010 8:57 AM

CANTTAKESKY

Quote:
Originally posted by mincingbeast:
Article: The reason given in the notification is the Martinezes violated the Drug Abuse Act, even though they were not arrested.

Even though drugs weren't found on them, you mean.

Their interpretation of the Drug Abuse Act must be really generous, if you can be charged under it even without any evidence of drugs or drug use.

Apparently, carrying a large wad of cash is now illegal.

Can't Take (my gorram) Sky
------
Everything I say is just my opinion, not fact.

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Friday, December 10, 2010 9:02 AM

BLUEHANDEDMENACE

That's a new one to me "We gave it to the feds, ask them for it back"

I'm actually not familiar with the Drug Abuse Act, and I'd be interested in hearing the reasoning mentioned as confidential as to why the money was turned over.

Also, there is zero in that article about further potential charges pending against either brother.

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Friday, December 10, 2010 9:15 AM

NIKI2

Gettin' old, but still a hippie at heart...

Quote:
Anyone with even a rudimentary knowledge of science can tell that there is virtually zero difference between street drugs and what schools are prescribing for kids, or doctors for pain.

On a larger level, I happen to agree. We are a "pill" society, and Big Pharma are the ones getting rich from it.

Pertinent point that "legal" drugs aren't cut with dangerous substances (except cigrettes, of course), but it doesn't change the basic premise.

Would be amusing to note that Raptor immediately jumped to his conclusion despite the lack of evidence, if it weren't so predictable.

As to the cops taking the money without cause and not giving it back, this surprises exactly who? Since when do the cops need evidence to do what they want?

The first communal house I lived in, the cops busted in one day and told us all to sit down, saying they had a "file" on each of us and would haul us in if we protested. They then quite openly put a packet of some white powder underneath a paperweight, lifted the paperweight and laughed "oh, hey, look what we found?", then hauled Country (who had recently gotten out of a Texas jail for a trumped-up drug charge) away.

For me, this story is surprising not at all.

Hippie Operative Nikovich Nikita Nicovna Talibani,
Contracted Agent of Veritas Oilspillus, code name “Nike”,
signing off

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Friday, December 10, 2010 9:52 AM

KWICKO

"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." -- William Casey, Reagan's presidential campaign manager & CIA Director (from first staff meeting in 1981)

Quote:
Originally posted by BlueHandedMenace:
Mincing,

If you read the article, the phase of the investigation concerning the two men they took the money from is over. The judge ordered the cops to return the funds.

This isnt some claim by someone saying that cops ripped em off, its a municipality refusing to comply with a judicial order, and pursuing forfeiture of funds because, "well, we thought they committed a crime, and they had this money, so we took it, finders keepers!"

Like I said above, I have little doubt that these funds were drug money, but the point is cops need to PROVE that before they can steal, sorry confiscate, it from citizens.

And that is the salient point.

Hell, you can argue that they're doubtless in violation of federal tax code, because I'm willing to bet that they aren't paying income taxes on their (presumably) illegal income. But even so, you still have to PROVE IT, and thus far, nobody has.

Let 'em come to claim the money, and then I'm sure the IRS would like to talk to them about it. If they DON'T claim the money, after a certain number of days it becomes the municipality's property anyway, does it not?

Rappy seems to have no problem with "big gubmint" stepping in to tell someone they can't have sums of cash in their possession (unless they're rich white folks, of course). And I'm sorry, but "we know they're drug dealers" isn't a valid excuse to rip them off. Hell, *I* know the cops here are crooked as hell - that doesn't really entitle me to rip them off or do anything illegal to them, does it?

This Space For Rent!

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Friday, December 10, 2010 12:57 PM

FREMDFIRMA

Cops defy the courts all the time, folks, and the courts are unwilling to press them on the matter because of the incestuous relationship between court, prosecutor and police - without which they actually HAVE to follow due process instead of ridin the railroad train, don't you see ?

The Detroit courts also have a nasty policy of collecting restitution payments and then not EVER handing them over to the victims, for that matter, it's all about the money.

As for drugs, well shit, they legalized medical marijuana in many places here, and Sherrif Bouchard didn't like it, so he went and rounded up *ALL* the dispensary operators on bullshit charges after sending in ringers with supposedly "Fake" ID cards which the bastards ran OFF THE SAME MACHINE WHICH MAKES THE REAL ONES - how the fuck were they supposed to know the difference when there WASN'T ANY ?

All cause HE didn't like the way the law was, cause he thought he WAS the law - sorry, cops *enforce* the law, legislators *write* the law, but in practice, the badge bearing bastards think they have some kinda divine right to do as they see fit and be damned to the very law they swore to uphold and enforce....

And *THAT*, people, is where the greatest bulk of my issues with em, and bad attitude towards em, lies.
"Just like every cop is a criminal, and all the sinners, saints...."

-Frem

I do not serve the Blind God.

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