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Policing For Dollars: Federal and State Officers Take Life Savings From College Student Despite The Dropping Of All Charges

150617_KentuckyForfeitureEMBED2We have previously discussed “policing for dollars” or “churning” where they seize cash, particularly on highways, as suspected drug money even without actually arresting or charging the drivers. It raises a huge amount of money for police departments and has been widely criticized as abusive. The latest victim of churning appears to be Charles Clarke, 24, who was on his way to take classes at the University of Central Florida. He was stopped at the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport in Hebron, Ky. with his life savings that he was taking with him for safe keeping and to support his education. Since he could not “prove” the source of the money, agents seized the $11,000 and, despite dropping all charges against him, has thus far refused to return the money despite Clarke’s efforts.

The stop at the airport occurred after an airline employee reported that Clarke’s luggage smelled of marijuana. Police told him that he was free to go but asked to search him and his bags. Rather than walk away, Clarke consented and immediately told them that he had the cash on him. They found no drugs and he admitted that he had smoked marijuana before going to the airport.

DEA agent William Conrad, a Cincinnati-based officer with a DEA task force,and Detective Christopher Boyd said that when they grabbed the money, Clarke grabbed approached Boyd’s wrist. They responded by criminally charging him with resisting arrest and disorderly conduct — charges later dropped after they took the money.

Conrad’s affidavit insisted that the seizure was perfectly justified “based on probable cause that it was proceeds of drug trafficking or was intended to be used in an illegal transaction.” The “Mitigating factors” cited by Conrad was the purchase of a one-way ticket, inability to provide documentation noting where the money came from, a positive hit by a drug dog and the strong smell of marijuana on his checked luggage. Yet Clarke admitted to smoking pot and there was a perfectly good reason for a one-way ticket for a college student. Finally, if Conrad was asked to prove the source of the money in his wallet, I expect he would have had the same difficulty in producing receipts or a financial statement.

The United States attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky appears to have no comment on the arrest, dropped charges, or money seizure. There is a presumption of guilt until proven otherwise. It is simply thrown on the pile of $6.8 billion in cash and property has been seized through the “Equitable Sharing Program.” While only two agencies were involved in stripping Clarke of his life savings, some 11 agencies across Kentucky and Ohio claim cuts in such proceeds.

140 thoughts on “Policing For Dollars: Federal and State Officers Take Life Savings From College Student Despite The Dropping Of All Charges”

  4. OK

    The rum was better and it came in bigger bottles and the revenue cutters were slower. Let’s rock on.

    1. issac – when I first moved to Arizona you could go to Mexico and get a gallon of booze for each person in the car. So, come Xmas, everyone would load up the station wagon with the neighborhood kids and drive down to Mexico and load up for the season. 🙂 🙂

  9. SQUEEKY

    I went to grade school in Ottawa and Nova Scotia. My Dad was in the Navy and I went to six elementary schools. I roamed the docks in the fifties in Halifax. I still remember being in history where the first Europeans landed, from the Vikings through to the Brits, from Newfoundland down to the Carolinas. Then they hit a Club Med and wouldn’t pay the entrance fee, so back to Norway.

  10. MUSH RING DUM A DO DUM A DA HEY

    THERE’S WHISKEY IN THE JAR.

    GO NORTH TO THE MARITIMES THEN GO EAST. ENERGY AWAITS.

  11. @ JT

    In addition to being subjected to piratical seizures of their assets, innocent citizens are also picking up the tab on settlements for police brutality:

    “A town in Michigan will levy a one-time tax hike on the city’s homeowners to pay nearly $1.4m to settle a lawsuit with a man who was beaten by a police officer.

    “The town of Inkster, a Detroit suburb, agreed last Thursday to pay $1.38m to Floyd Dent, who was severely beaten by police officer William Melendez during a traffic stop in January. The incident was captured on video, which aired on WDIV-TV weeks after the incident.

    “Melendez, who was fired and denies wrongdoing, has been charged with three felonies.
    Inkster is not the only city that is footing large bills for police misconduct. Since 2007, Detroit has paid out almost $27m in lawsuits and settlements costs related to police misconduct. Over a 10-year period, Denver paid out $13m to settle cases against local police and sheriff’s departments. [Chicago recently agreed to pay $5.5m to victims of police torture in the 1970s and 80s.]

    “ ‘It’s a stark reminder that police brutality has real consequences, not just for the victims who are physically hurt by it, but for the residents of the community that the police are supposed to be serving,’ Dan Korobkin, deputy legal director at American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan, told the Huffington Post.
    http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/jun/03/michigan-homeowners-pay-tax-police-brutality

  12. Those are beautiful songs. My father and grandfather and grandmother spent some years in Newfoundland. Grandpa was stationed there, and my father tells me about the Mounties and seeing the Queen, etc. He loved it there. He says we may all bug out there if things go to pot in the U.S.

    Squeeky Fromm
    Girl Reporter

  13. Squeeky

    Read up a little on Stan Rogers. He was a one off. Unfortunately he died in an airplane crash. There is a culture that stretches from Newfoundland through the Maritime Provinces. Rogers is the ambassador of that. Rita McNeil is another one. Here’s one from her.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rfw99vrBaBA

  15. Isaac – curses! Another cool video I can’t watch. I’m going to have to go to the library this weekend. Thanks for the link.

  18. Olly – you write this symbol then a space then your text then a space then the symbol .

    I have to write it out longhand or it will just all be in italics.

  20. Karen

    A Canadian songwriter and singer Stan Rogers wrote and recorded one of the best songs illustrating privateering and letters of marque.

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