be careful if you're traveling with cash to buy a car...

...apparently it's legal for the cops to rob you for no reason at all.

This was on the local news the other night. It may be old news to everybody else but I had no idea the cops could just take your money without any kind of wrong doing on your part.

There has been several instances of this happening in my area and I'm sure it happens elsewhere.

Here is a link to the video

http://www.newschannel5.com/story/18241221/man-loses-22000-in-new-policing-for-profit-case



Here is the written version if you can't watch the video

By Phil Williams
Chief Investigative Reporter
MONTEREY, Tenn. -- "If somebody told me this happened to them, I absolutely would not believe this could happen in America."
That was the reaction of a New Jersey man who found out just how risky it can be to carry cash through Tennessee.

For more than a year, NewsChannel 5 Investigates has been shining a light on a practice that some call "policing for profit."
See previous stories:
"NC5 Investigates: Policing For Profit"​

In this latest case, a Monterey police officer took $22,000 off the driver -- even though he had committed no crime.
"You live in the United States, you think you have rights -- and apparently you don't," said George Reby.
As a professional insurance adjuster, Reby spends a lot of time traveling from state to state. But it was on a trip to a conference in Nashville last January that he got a real education in Tennessee justice.
"I never had any clue that they thought they could take my money legally," Reby added. "I didn't do anything wrong."
Reby was driving down Interstate 40, heading west through Putnam County, when he was stopped for speeding.
A Monterey police officer wanted to know if he was carrying any large amounts of cash.
"I said, 'Around $20,000,'" he recalled. "Then, at the point, he said, 'Do you mind if I search your vehicle?' I said, 'No, I don't mind.' I certainly didn't feel I was doing anything wrong. It was my money."
That's when Officer Larry Bates confiscated the cash based on his suspicion that it was drug money.
"Why didn't you arrest him?" we asked Bates.
"Because he hadn't committed a criminal law," the officer answered.
Bates said the amount of money and the way it was packed gave him reason to be suspicious.
"The safest place to put your money if it's legitimate is in a bank account," he explained. "He stated he had two. I would put it in a bank account. It draws interest and it's safer."
"But it's not illegal to carry cash," we noted.
"No, it's not illegal to carry cash," Bates said. "Again, it's what the cash is being used for to facilitate or what it is being utilized for."
NewsChannel 5 Investigates noted, "But you had no proof that money was being used for drug trafficking, correct? No proof?"
"And he couldn't prove it was legitimate," Bates insisted.
Bates is part of a system that, NewsChannel 5 Investigates has discovered, gives Tennessee police agencies the incentive to take cash off of out-of-state drivers. If they don't come back to fight for their money, the agency gets to keep it all.
"This is a taking without due process," said Union City attorney John Miles.
A former Texas prosecutor and chairman of the Obion County Tea Party, Miles has seen similar cases in his area.
He said that, while police are required to get a judge to sign off on a seizure within five days, state law says that hearing "shall be ex parte" -- meaning only the officer's side can be heard.
That's why George Reby was never told that there was a hearing on his case.
"It wouldn't have mattered because the judge would have said, 'This says it shall be ex parte. Sit down and shut up. I'm not to hear from you -- by statute," Miles added.
George Reby said that he told Monterey officers that "I had active bids on EBay, that I was trying to buy a vehicle. They just didn't want to hear it."
In fact, Reby had proof on his computer.
But the Monterey officer drew up a damning affidavit, citing his own training that "common people do not carry this much U.S. currency."
Read Officer Bates' affidavit
"On the street, a thousand-dollar bundle could approximately buy two ounces of cocaine," Bates told NewsChannel 5 Investigates.
"Or the money could have been used to buy a car," we observed.
"It's possible," he admitted.
NewsChannel 5 Investigates asked Bates if Reby had told him that he was trying to buy a car?
"He did," the officer acknowledged.
"But you did not include that in your report," we noted.
"If it's not in there, I didn't put it in there."
So why did he leave that out?
"I don't know," the officer said.
Bates also told the judge the money was hidden inside "a tool bag underneath trash to [deter] law enforcement from locating it."
"That's inaccurate," Reby said. "I pulled out the bag and gave it to him."
And even though there was no proof that Reby was involved in anything illegal, Bates' affidavit portrays him as a man with a criminal history that included an arrest for possession of cocaine.
That was 20-some years ago," the New Jersey man insisted.
"Were you convicted?" we wanted to know.
"No, I wasn't convicted," he answered.
But Officer Bates says that arrest -- which he acknowledged was old -- was still part of the calculation to take Reby's money.
"Am I going to use it? Yes, I'm going to use it because he's been charged with it in the past -- regardless of whether it's 10 or 15 years ago," he said.
Attorney John Miles said he's frustrated with attitudes toward Tennessee's civil forfeiture laws, which make such practices legal.
"We are entitled not to be deprived of our property without due process of law, both under the Tennessee Constitution and the federal Constitution -- and nobody cares," Miles said.
"Nobody cares."
This year, state lawmakers debated a bill to create a special committee to investigate these "policing for profit" issues. That bill died in the last days of the legislative session.
After Reby filed an appeal, and after NewsChannel 5 began investigating, the state agreed to return his money -- if he'd sign a statement waiving his constitutional rights and promising not to sue.
They also made him come all the way from New Jersey, back to Monterey to pick up a check.
He got the check, but no apology.
"If they lied about everything in the report, why would they apologize?" Reby said.
And, with that, he was ready to put Tennessee in his rearview mirror.
"I really don't want to come back here," he said.
As for the appeals process, Reby was able to provide us and the state with letters from his employers, showing that he had a legitimate source of income.
It took him four months to get his money back, but it usually takes a lot longer for most people.
And that, Miles said, works to the benefit of the police.
He had two clients where police agreed to drop the cases in exchange for a cut of the money -- $1,000 in one case, $2,000 in another. In both cases, that was less than what they might have paid in attorney fees.
Miles called that "extortion."
E-mail: [email protected]

 

Holy crap! That's insane. Remind me to stay away from Tennessee. The sad part is,it may spread to other states.

 

That is unbelievable!

 

I think that I'd probably make the national news if a cop tried to take MY LEGAL MONEY away from me!

 

Unbelievable! This is not the America I grew up in. Please don't take that statement as an invite to make this a political thing and get this closed. Sounds like Officer Bates is a throwback to 1950's Southern policing. Guilty until proven innocent. Freaking outrageous!

 

I don't think it's just TN it's already spreading. The thing that I thought about was swap meet vendors.

If you sold a bunch of parts at a swap meet and were heading home with a few thousand dollars from parts that you sold you.

How would you prove where that money came from??

 

Wow. I'm wondering how the conversation of "How much money do you have on you?" came up.

 

Yeah, to me, he looks like the biggest crook in this video!

 

WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!! what a bunch of crap! that cop is giving good cops a bad name! fuck that dude and that department!

 

I've heard of this before..

there is only one way to stop it..become involved

to stop the police state, you have to get tuff about your rights

you have the right to remain silent..do so, and get another bottom feeder to do your talkin

you also dont have to consent to a search..make em work for it.
when it costs them more $ to do this, thats when it will stop

I'd be following that pig everywhere he goes that day , and would have been recording the event from the begining on my cell phone video

I wont argue this with anyone here..Its not worth my time

 

I had one of our Field Service Engineers get hustled like that in Mexico several years ago, but it was only for a couple of hundered. Seems like the police in Tennessee have taken it to a whole other level.

 

I'm always paranoid about this type of thing happening when carrying cash to buy a car. In fact I'm more worried about cops ripping me off than I am a criminal doing it!

 

Drug dogs hit on money.

All money has traces of cocaine on it.
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/08/090816-cocaine-money.html

http://www.lvrj.com/opinion/17347979.html

 

The gov ment doesnt want people useing cash. It will all be done electronically soon. thats my conspiracy theory.

 

.....Not mine. I keep the print shop squeaky clean

 

yea thats a whole other story, thats a drug mule moving money. this guy just had cash to buy stuff with.

 

All money has traces of cocaine on it.
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/08/090816-cocaine-money.html

 

Wow! It's not hard to believe this is still going on, but it still stings to read about it. At least the guy didn't have to "squeal like a pig".

 

in fla you can carry 9999.00 in cash over that it can be seized. until you can prove it is for legal use

 

Tennessee Legislation sucks big dicks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

.......Rip me off for $22,000 and I probably will squeal like a pig.

 

Police are a crock of shit in my book regarding that 'lawful excuse'... I would shoot the son of a bitch if he said he were taking my 20k for suspiscion of narcotic money. It would be my suspiscion that it was a scandal behind a badge for aprehending MY money

 

Yeah, no kidding....

Not, "are you carrying drugs or illegal fruit" No. "how much cash do you have on ya(?)"!?!?!

 

I had about 2k in small bills (tips from bartending) in a crown royal bag and got pulled over one day in a company vehicle on the way to the bank. One of the cops noticed it sitting in the seat, and kept saying "that looks like a lot of money", I politely said, "no, you cant have it" and went on with their requests. Still creeps me out the way the one was acting.

 

Now he knows, if you get pulled over and they ask if they can search your car say "nope, get a warrant".

 

If I had 20,000 in cash that I was traveling with to buy a car. I would get pulled over for the remote control .50 cal mounted on the roof of my truck.....Is it really that inconvenient to do a bank transfer? Carrying that kinda cash seems scary....

 

A Monterey police officer wanted to know if he was carrying any large amounts of cash.
"I said, 'Around $20,000,'" he recalled.

correct answer: "here's my license and registration. I won't be answering any questions."



"Then, at the point, he said, 'Do you mind if I search your vehicle?' I said, 'No, I don't mind.' I certainly didn't feel I was doing anything wrong. It was my money."

correct answer: "I will not be consenting to any searches"

That's when Officer Larry Bates confiscated the cash based on his suspicion that it was drug money.

people are under no legal obligation to answer questions from the police. either at a traffic stop or when brought in for interrogation.

trying to outsmart a cop in this situation is useless. you will not win. don't say anything.

cops stealing your money for no reason and no way to get it back. what a great country we used to be. I don't see it ever getting better. time to start stockpiling weapons.

 

State of Georgia is like $3,000 or less in cash, last I heard.

Just another way for them to mess with you and know your business.

Most other States have similar laws buried in their books.

-W

 

Right On!

but as far as proving it IS his money..go to your bank and have them print out the trans action , date aand amount..
go back to the cop shop with your lawyer..and press for it to be released or you will press charges....

if you wuss out, they win..bust their ass!

this altercation should have been recorded..they hate that, and its perfectly legal

 

just tell them you dont have any cash.