WINNEMUCCA, Nev.\u2014A rural Nevada sheriff is defending the practice of stopping suspected drug traffickers on U.S. Interstate 80 and confiscating tens of thousands of dollars even if no criminal charges are filed.<\/p>\n
Reports that two men had filed lawsuits in federal court against the county stirred concerns among Humboldt County residents that deputies are making illegal searches and seizures along I-80 in the high desert near Winnemucca about 165 miles east of Reno.<\/p>\n
Humboldt County Sheriff Ed Kilgore said he can\u2019t discuss case details, but he wants to assure residents the stops are legal and not intended to shake down unsuspecting visitors. He said that civil forfeitures are legal if an arresting officer suspects the individual obtained\u2014or intends to use\u2014the money illegally.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat I\u2019m hearing on the street is that we stop you and ask you for your license, registration and your insurance, and how much money do you have? That simply is not how it is ever done,\u201d he said at a sheriff\u2019s open house he hosted Tuesday night that attracted about 40 people to the Winnemucca Convention Center.<\/p>\n
The federal plaintiffs from California and Colorado tell strikingly similar stories about their stops near Winnemucca in September and December. No drugs were found or arrests made, but both say they were told they\u2019d be released with their vehicles only if they forfeited their cash in violation of their constitutional rights.<\/p>\n
One gave up a briefcase filled with $50,000 cash, and the other handed over $13,800 and a handgun, their lawsuits contend.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s like Jesse James or Black Bart,\u201d John Ohlson, a Reno lawyer representing one of the men, told The Associated Press last week.<\/p>\n
Bob Pace was among the locals who raised concerns that regardless of whether the claims are true, they may be giving the town a black eye.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe majority of the community is extra concerned,\u201d said Pace, who taught school for 30 years and now works in the mining industry.<\/p>\n
\u201c You have a huge job and do it well,\u201d he told Kilgore. \u201cBut the perception is an individual on the road is stopped, and they are not cited. They are not arrested, but their cash or their weapons are confiscated.\u201d<\/p>\n
Humboldt County District Attorney Michael Macdonald said that in cases of civil forfeitures, individuals have the right to go to court to try to prove they obtained the money is legally, rightfully theirs.<\/p>\n
But Dan Deveny said that turns the justice system \u201cupside down.\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s no citation,\u201d he said. \u201cBut now you are guilty until you prove yourself innocent.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kilgore acknowledged drug-interdiction tactics are a \u201chot topic,\u201d but he said they follow the same guidelines used along major interstate corridors throughout the West, as well as on the East Coast.<\/p>\n
Sgt. Chris Aker, who explained some of the tactics with his K-9 \u201cBoots\u201d at his feet, said officers are trained to recognize evasiveness during questioning, including stories about travel routes that don\u2019t add up or a lack of luggage on cross-country trips.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe don\u2019t just say how much money have you got, we\u2019re going to take it,\u201d he said, adding that he often suspects criminal activity but doesn\u2019t have enough evidence to form a \u201creasonable suspicion\u201d\u2018 to seize property.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s been a lot of them where I think this is dirty and it doesn\u2019t make sense\u2014but I have to let them go,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Aker emphasized the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration two years ago identified Salt Lake City as a drug hub for Mexican cartels shuttling money and drugs between there and California.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re trying to combat crime in our own little way in the war on drugs,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re not just talking about people driving to buy medical marijuana. These are drug traffickers with guns who may be staying in our hotels.\u201d<\/p>\n
Robert Dolan, an ex-Humboldt County public defender now with a private practice in Winnemucca, said he\u2019s a civil libertarian who thinks the laws should be changed but that currently \u201cyou don\u2019t need a criminal prosecution to be part of a civil forfeiture.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a slippery slope of evidentiary standards … but it\u2019s out there. It\u2019s lawful,\u201d Dolan said. \u201cThe deck is stacked against the citizens. And I\u2019m not happy about it. But this system was not invented by Sheriff Kilgore.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
WINNEMUCCA, Nev.\u2014A rural Nevada sheriff is defending the practice of stopping suspected drug traffickers on U.S. Interstate 80 and confiscating …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4093","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-news-w","mauthors-scott-sonner","mauthors-the-associated-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4093","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4093"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4093\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4093"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4093"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4093"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}