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Opinion
Apr. 07, 2008
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EDITORIAL: It's now illegal to carry cash?

Nye County cops hit the jackpot

Is no one else concerned that it's apparently now routine that police, finding an otherwise peaceable motorist in possession of a large sum of cash, simply take it?

Last Tuesday afternoon, Nye County Sheriff's Deputy Dan Pineau, while conducting a "drug patrol" on U.S. Highway 95 in Beatty, stopped a pickup truck for speeding and failing to stop at a stop sign. (For those who haven't passed through the charming little speed trap with the estimable chicken soup, 115 miles north of Las Vegas, the rapid lowering of speed limits as you enter Beatty makes it no great challenge for a deputy to catch someone failing to reduce speed quickly enough.)

Although no narcotics were found, a dog "hit" on the vehicle, which courts have held provides sufficient cause to rip the thing apart. Deputies found more than $750,000 in cash in the hidden compartments in the truck.

So they let the driver go, keeping the truck and the cash.

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    • Let's not pretend to be naive. The fact that driver said she didn't know the money was there and had no idea who it belonged to doesn't make it too much of a stretch to conclude the woman -- knowingly or not -- was being used as a "mule" to transport illicit drug proceeds. That makes it a "good bust," as police count such things -- and the largest cash seizure in Nye County history, according to Sheriff Tony DeMeo, surpassing a similar $676,000 haul during a 2002 traffic stop in Tonopah.

    It's enough to make an honest prospector give up his pan, his pick, and his mule!

    Deputy Pineau did his job effectively. No one was hurt, and no one need lose any sleep over the financial loss to some unnamed drug kingpin.

    Nor are Nye County deputies the only ones "getting lucky." Last year, police in Boulder City seized more than $500,000 stashed in the spare tire of a vehicle passing through the community.

    Three observations may be in order:

    1) If the drug dealers can write off these kinds of losses as mere incidental costs of doing business, the "War on Drugs" is lost.

    2) While it's nice for local taxpayers to get this kind of budgetary relief in funding local police agencies, there is a risk in growing accustomed to such "windfalls." The risk is that so long as the money flows in, fewer and fewer questions may be asked.

    3) What happens the next time a law-abiding citizen -- especially if he or she has an Hispanic name -- gets pulled over and says, "Yes, as it happens I've got $50,000 cash in the car. It's mine -- I earned it and saved it and I'm taking it to California to invest in a small business" or "to buy my son a classic Corvette for his wedding present" or "to bid at a collectors' coin auction"?

    The money will be seized, won't it? The citizen (or his money, technically) will be presumed guilty, and the owner will be required to spend almost that sum on lawyers trying to get his cash back, won't he?

    It didn't used to be illegal to travel around America carrying cash. Police seizing any large sums of cash they spotted used to be a phenomenon only of the corrupt Third World.

    Is no one else concerned?

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    David Henderson wrote on May 12, 2008 10:40 PM: Wake up America. This is just the beginning.


    Genius wrote on May 10, 2008 12:45 PM: This confiscation is an abomination. The police state powers grow and grow. The police would be better off tagging the car and following the money trail to see where it ends up. Perhaps the trail may even lead to the real culprits, if they exist. I disagree with confiscating people's possessions without due process. This is the stuff the IRS is made of, confiscation without due process. It's a shame for a free people to put up with this nonsense.


    Robert Walker wrote on May 09, 2008 06:04 AM: Many of us are concerned. The money confiscated during an arrest is considered the proceeds of the crime and is supposed to be held until someone is found guilty or innocent. If guilty, the law enforcement bureaucracy keeps the money to further fight crime. In the case of not guilty, the accused is to have the money returned. The original concept was for the government to use illegal funds for crime fighting. Were the $750,000.00 the fruits of the crime of speeding? How do we know that the woman was a "mule"?
    Possession is supposed to be 90% of the law. If one has something in one's possession, it belongs to that one, until otherwise proven. The money belongs to the woman. If I were her, I would fight tooth and nail to get it back.


    Ray wrote on April 19, 2008 06:16 PM: Very concerning considering that there are still many people who do not trust nor use banks in any way shape or form. As far as I know there is no law requiring me to put my money in a bank, is there? So yes very scary and I have been concerned about many issues for a while now.


    Vicente Loera Mier wrote on April 16, 2008 11:15 AM: If the Pope is here tell Hem to blees all that drugs that mi mexican brother have been able to pass throu the border, since seem to be that he dont care about that.
    Ya que esta aqui el santo papa de Roma diganle que vaya a bendecir toda esa droga que mis hermanos mexicanos han llegado a pasar por la frontera sin ser detectados, ya que parese que a El no le importa el dano que causan con ella: Tambien que vaya a ver el muro en la frontera al cual El tambien esta habiertamente opuesto para que le heche agua bendita para que se le salga el diablo al muro y a la gente que anda construyendolo.


    Neocon wrote on April 13, 2008 10:07 AM: I have no problem with this being
    a necon and all our overlords need
    hugh amounts of cash to protect us
    all from those muslims.
    So think of this as a donation to
    help America.


    Anon wrote on April 12, 2008 10:29 PM: The war on drugs is just another scam that is used as an excuse:

    1. To murder you - do a search for how many innocent people and their children and family members are shot to death by police in 'drug raids' that happen at the wrong address, or that are based on falsified testimony..

    2. To steal your stuff - whereby police steal not just cars but entire houses full of possessions merely on speculation and rumour of drugs.

    Are we ever going to see a drug raid on Langley, Virginia? The CIA imports tonnes of heroin and other narcotics every year to the USA, but its the poor people and bystanders that get murdered and jailed.

    A 3rd-world quality police force matches the 3rd world federal government and economy. So George W Bush orders the unprovoked killing of hundreds of thousands of civilians? But he smiles, mentions Jesus and gives the cameras a big Thumbs-Up, he must be a good guy!


    Shannon Thomas wrote on April 12, 2008 09:32 PM: Yes, I am very concerned.


    david j perry wrote on April 12, 2008 08:12 PM: no, not really...what are you, a drug dealer? lol...

    who the hell needs to carry around $750,000 !?!?

    ....

    A drug dealer.

    case closed


    Chaos Motor wrote on April 12, 2008 05:18 PM: "Is no one else concerned?"

    Yes, and I have been for a long time now.


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