Cops Steal $8,000, Won't Give It Back

Imagine yourself driving down the road, with $8,000 of your own money (honestly earned) in your pocket, and you get stopped by the police. They search you and "confiscate" the money. Eight months later there are NO "drug charges," but the money has mysteriously disappeared into the bowels of the federal government. And you know there is NO "accountability" in the federal government. That happened to a young black man (who else?) in Montgomery, Alabama. They couldn't find any drugs on him, so they phonied-up some "domestic violence" charges to make the stop, and the confiscation, look good. "DEA attorney John J. Cipriani declared Merritt's money officially forfeited Jan. 30. The federal government planned to engage in what Chavers called 'equitable sharing' ["Divvying up the loot. -RT] of the proceeds, court records show." On what basis, and under what court order was this action taken? Was it on the simple "declaration" of this DEA attorney? Sounds unconstitutional to me. But then, the whole system of confiscating ANY large amount of money with NO charges being filed, nor proven against the vic . . .arrestee has been unconstitutional since the unconstitutional RICO laws were passed, "to keep the bad guys from being able to afford high-priced lawyers" which is, in itself, unconstitutional on its face. They probably "scanned" his car to see if stealing his money was worth the bother. (Montgomery Advertiser, 11/20/07)