How This Veteran Marine Is Fighting The 'Civil Forfeiture' Program

Forbes

In a real life version of Rebel Ridge, a veteran is fighting the “civil forfeiture” program that gives state and local cops an incentive to grab your assets–even when you’ve committed no crime.  Read the full story on Forbes: https://www.forbes.com/sites/kellyphillipserb/2024/10/14/the-cops-seized-his-86900-life-savings-for-no-reason-they-picked-the-wrong-marine/  Subscribe to FORBES: https://www.youtube.com/user/Forbes?sub_confirmation=1  Fuel your success with Forbes. Gain unlimited access to premium journalism, including breaking news, groundbreaking in-depth reported stories, daily digests and more. Plus, members get a front-row seat at members-only events with leading thinkers and doers, access to premium video that can help you get ahead, an ad-light experience, early access to select products including NFT drops and more:  https://account.forbes.com/membership/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=display&utm_campaign=growth_non-sub_paid_subscribe_ytdescript  Stay Connected Forbes newsletters: https://newsletters.editorial.forbes.com Forbes on Facebook: http://fb.com/forbes Forbes Video on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/forbes Forbes Video on Instagram: http://instagram.com/forbes More From Forbes:  http://forbes.com  Forbes covers the intersection of entrepreneurship, wealth, technology, business and lifestyle with a focus on people and success.

Transcript

00:00Today on Forbes, the cops seized his $86,900 life savings for no reason.

00:07They picked the wrong Marine.

00:10It sounds like the opening of the Netflix hit movie Rebel Ridge.

00:14But it happened in real life, and the consequences are still playing out in the Nevada courts.

00:20On February 19, 2021, retired Marine Stephen Lara was making the 1,400-mile drive from

00:27Lubbock, Texas, to Portola, a small California town near Reno, Nevada, where his teenage

00:32daughters lived with his ex-wife.

00:35Early in the COVID-19 pandemic, Lara, now 42 years old, was laid off from his hospital

00:40systems administrator job in California and moved in with his parents in Lubbock to save

00:45money — and to save up for a house.

00:48Lara had driven this four-day round trip dozens of times, and it had become almost routine.

00:54This time, however, he was pulled over by the Nevada Highway Patrol on I-80 near Sparks,

00:59Nevada, about an hour from Reno, ostensibly for following and passing a tanker truck too

01:05closely.

01:06He wasn't issued a traffic ticket or warning, let alone arrested or charged with a crime.

01:12Yet the 90-minute encounter ended with the officers seizing Lara's life savings — some

01:16$86,900 in cash he had in a Ziploc bag — and sending the money to the Federal Drug Enforcement

01:23Agency for potential, quote, civil forfeiture.

01:27What that means is that despite the fact Lara was not charged with a crime, the feds could

01:31legally keep his money, kicking back $69,520 of it to the Nevada Highway Patrol as a sort

01:38of finder's fee.

01:41More than six months later, Lara got his cash back — but only after the Institute for

01:45Justice, or IJ, a libertarian not-for-profit law firm, sued the DEA on his behalf.

01:52Now, with IJ still representing him pro bono, he's asking Nevada courts to rule that the

01:58state's constitution, which protects property rights, bars the Nevada Highway Patrol from

02:03participating in the, quote, equitable sharing, civil forfeiture program run by the feds — something

02:09almost all states now do.

02:12Earlier this year, Lara won a preliminary round in his Nevada case when a trial judge

02:17rejected the Highway Patrol's motion to dismiss the lawsuit.

02:20The trial is scheduled for next June.

02:23If he ultimately wins, it could set an important precedent and inspire legal challenges in

02:27other states.

02:29From 2000 to 2019, by IJ's count, the feds sent a whopping $8.8 billion in civil forfeiture

02:36payments to state, local, and tribal law enforcement agencies that had seized assets under the

02:41joint program.

02:43During Lara's traffic stop, the officer asked if Lara had any firearms, explosives, or drugs

02:48in the car, and he answered truthfully that he did not.

02:52The officer asked whether he had large amounts of cash, and Lara said he did, explaining

02:56that he didn't trust banks.

02:59Because of his distrust of banks, Lara had kept his savings in cash for as long as he

03:03can remember.

03:04That's not as unusual as it sounds.

03:06Based on a 2021 national survey, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, or FDIC, estimates

03:12that 14 percent of U.S. households were, quote, underbanked, meaning they have at least one

03:17household bank account but use alternatives.

03:20And another 4.5 percent were unbanked, with no bank accounts at all.

03:26Significantly, both the unbanked and underbanked rates are much higher, at all income levels,

03:31for those who are Black or, like Lara, Latino.

03:35In the FDIC survey, the unbanked cited distrust of banks as the second most common reason

03:40they shun conventional accounts, second only to bank fees.

03:45Under the civil forfeiture law, the government can seize and keep your property if it merely

03:49suspects the property is connected to a crime.

03:52The kicker?

03:53Often, the government doesn't have to offer any proof, nor does the property owner have

03:58to be charged with a crime for the government to seize the property.

04:01This differs from criminal forfeiture, where property is generally turned over to the government

04:06after a conviction.

04:08For full coverage, check out Kelly Phillips Erb's piece on Forbes.com.

04:14This is Kieran Meadows from Forbes, thanks for tuning in.

Category

Transcript

Recommended