Highway robbery in Nevada, cops use seizure laws to steal a veteran's life savings

[Lennie]

Nevada Civil Forfeiture - Institute for Justice

Marine veteran Stephen Lara was left on the side of the highway in Nevada without any money, after police took his life savings without ever charging him with any wrongdoing. Stephen has teamed up with IJ to get his money back and make sure the DEA follows the rules moving forward.

ij.org

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[PORSCHE928S4]

Note to self don't drive around with a backpack full of money

 

[osprey]

Unless you are going to parachute out of a jet with it.

 

[HotRodGuy]

Why on earth would he carry $87k around in cash without a plan for using it.
"Stephen returned to California for a weekend each month to spend time with them, sometimes taking his life savings in cash with him."

 

[PORSCHE928S4]

Why on earth would he carry $87k around in cash without a plan for using it.
"Stephen returned to California for a weekend each month to spend time with them, sometimes taking his life savings in cash with him."

Yea how about a bank ? Maybe he has some baby mommas after some back child support so a bank isn't an option !

 

[Flopsweat]

Why on earth would he carry $87k around in cash without a plan for using it.
"Stephen returned to California for a weekend each month to spend time with them, sometimes taking his life savings in cash with him."

Why shouldn't he? It's not illegal. The story here is that LE has articulated zero reasonable suspicion. If they can do it to him they can do it to you. I would venture to guess that a lot of us have, at one time or another in our lives, had a large amount of cash on our person for a short period of time for perfectly legitimate reasons.

 

[Certaindeaf]

Why on earth would he carry $87k around in cash without a plan for using it.
"Stephen returned to California for a weekend each month to spend time with them, sometimes taking his life savings in cash with him."

What a dope.

 

[spookshack]

Clearly a shakedown, plain and simple. If cops thought he was up to no good, why let him go? Same for the Fed's. I seem to have read a similar story not too long ago that happened to a guy at the airport. Took all his cash, and sent him on his way. I think he did eventually get it back, but not without a lot of time, money and effort on his part.

 

[PORSCHE928S4]

Why shouldn't he? It's not illegal. The story here is that LE has articulated zero reasonable suspicion. If they can do it to him they can do it to you. I would venture to guess that a lot of us have, at one time or another in our lives, had a large amount of cash on our person for a short period of time for perfectly legitimate reasons.

There has to be more to the story

 

[JackFrost]

wow... so lets blame the victim and not focus on the absolutely disgusting and blatant theft by the cops?
Good thing none of you guys have ever done something that in hindsight maybe wasn't a good idea. And people wonder why cops are hated, despised and viewed as criminals and thugs, jeeez I wonder why?

 

[HotRodGuy]

I am in no way standing up for what the cops did. Unreasonable seizure like that without any probable cause or charges should be classified as straight up theft or robbery and be charged as such.
My question was based on the fact that the apparent VICTIM in this instance would sometimes take his life savings, in cash, with him. That means he has carried a large amount of cash with him multiple times.
But, at the same time, if people like you want to paint cops with a broad brush, why can't we paint people carrying large amounts of cash with a broad brush.

 

[ma96782]

Bitcoin.

But I doubt that the Cartel actually wants that.

Aloha, Mark

PS.....I'm NOT saying that he is GUILTY of anything CRIMINAL (at this point). It's a civil procedure so....there you go. If the court decided to give him his money back with a little extra......that's on the court.

 

[mrblond]

The sad thign is, alot of PDs rely in these BS civil forfeiture laws as a source of funding.. in truth, its nothing but government theft and all these laws need to be repealed but we all know how hard that is.

 

[PORSCHE928S4]

The sad thign is, alot of PDs rely in these BS civil forfeiture laws as a source of funding.. in truth, its nothing but government theft and all these laws need to be repealed but we all know how hard that is.

Now that weed is legal they need another side hustle.

 

[Flopsweat]

I am in no way standing up for what the cops did. Unreasonable seizure like that without any probable cause or charges should be classified as straight up theft or robbery and be charged as such.
My question was based on the fact that the apparent VICTIM in this instance would sometimes take his life savings, in cash, with him. That means he has carried a large amount of cash with him multiple times.
But, at the same time, if people like you want to paint cops with a broad brush, why can't we paint people carrying large amounts of cash with a broad brush.

Who's painting cops with a broad brush? I just said what they did was wrong. I've never said all cops are this way or that way. Check my post history if you like.

 

[Cavedweller]

There has to be more to the story

If you follow the link at the bottom of the story that says "Explore the case in depth" more details are provided. Aside from the fact that the guy had a right to carry that much cash around, no matter how dumb that may be, he made several mistakes:

1) He talked to the cops about matters unrelated to the reason for the traffic stop ("his life and travels").

2) He volunteered the info that his life savings were in the trunk.

3) He consented to a warrentless search.

The cash was seized on the pretext that a K-9 was able to find the cash and alerted on it. I seem to remember reading some years ago that so much circulating cash is contaminated with cocaine that the presence of trace amounts on money in your possession is no longer considered evidence of criminal activity. Nonetheless, the money was seized for that reason.

The guy could have avoided this situation if he had just kept his mouth shut, so that's on him. On the other hand, stupidity isn't against the law.

 

[Alexx1401]

Every time I read one of these my BP does shoot up but, in this day and age why carry that kind of cash with you? It is just begging for a bad outcome.

 

[PORSCHE928S4]

Every time I read one of these my BP does shoot up but, in this day and age why carry that kind of cash with you? It is just begging for a bad outcome.

But...... if ya thuggin and a true playa they don't take it from you !

 

[The B]

Every time I read one of these my BP does shoot up but, in this day and age why carry that kind of cash with you? It is just begging for a bad outcome.

some people dont live their lives playing society's games. youre somehow still allowed to be a private citizen in this country, if just barely. questioning why someone chooses to is like questioning why you choose to own guns - its your right, and none of anyone elses goddamn business. end of discussion.

im off the grid, at this point - no bank, no "employment," no drivers license, no ID, nothing. no mailing address. when i rent homes, i do so through private landlords. no registrations. i unfortunately do have to fly sometimes, but i keep it to an absolute minimum and set aside an extra 30 minutes to get through TSA's enhanced screening (its a myth that you have to have ID to fly) prepaid visas with no name attached to them. likewise prepaid phones. because i choose to exercise my right to live completely privately. ive paid all my taxes and cashed out with what i have and expect it to last me for quite some time. given that im a bit nomadic, yea, sometimes i travel with huge amounts of cash on me. almost never all of it at once, but i certainly have. there used to be ways to move large sums of money privately - but even western union requires registration and ID and declarations for certain dollar amounts, now, due to federal legislation, so the only option left is to toss it in a fireproof case and take it with you, lest you end up getting it seized by the IRS for suspicion of money launderying/tax evasion.

bubblegumting on people for exercising their rights is always so ironic to me on gun forums.

 

[elsie]

Steve Lehto has done a number of videos on CAF that have been brought to his attention. He's a Michigan attorney so he does understand law. Here's a few of them on a playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLIN0HaGKANpp8-Zw7NEh9XokjmzYCIRiL


elsie