Brooks County another example of forfeiture program gone wrong

[TexasTowelie]

FALFURRIAS — In November 2001, a state trooper found $1.5 million in cash inside two locked suitcases in the back of a sport utility vehicle on U.S. Highway 281, where drugs flow north and money goes south.

Balde Lozano, then Brooks County sheriff, threw down his cup of coffee when he heard the news. It was the largest cash seizure he'd ever seen, and his deputies helped with the traffic stop. His office would get a cut of the money.

<<snip>>

During the next eight years, Lozano spent seizure fund money as he saw fit, including buying new cedar paneling for the sheriff's office.

The construction work at the sheriff's office, 18 vehicle purchases and sales, and $80,000 in credit card transactions are among the questionable activities identified in an audit that has now turned into an investigation by the Texas Attorney General's Office into how Lozano spent more than $500,000 of seized assets.

http://www.caller.com/news/2012/feb/19/high-dollar-highways-brooks-county-another-of/

A related story, "The case for asset forfeiture in South Texas" was also published in the Corpus Christi Caller-Times.

http://www.caller.com/news/2012/feb/19/the-case-for-asset-forfeiture-in-south-texas/?partner=popular

[DCKit]

1. This law is seriously f'd up.

They never have to prove you've done anything illegal to keep the money/property. They just have to catch you.