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                        THE LOOTING OF AMERICA
                          By Jarret Wollstein

 How over 200 Civil Asset Forfeiture laws enable police to confiscate
         your home, bank accounts & business without trial.

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"A police dog scratched at your luggage, so we're confiscating your
life savings and you'll never get it back."  In 1989, police stopped
49-year-old Ethel Hylton at Houston's Hobby Airport and told her she
was under arrest because a drug dog had scratched at her luggage.
Agents searched her bags and strip-searched her, but they found no
drugs. They did find $39,110 in cash, money she had received from an
insurance settlement and her life savings; accumulated through over 20
years of work as a hotel housekeeper and hospital janitor. Ethel
Hylton completely documented where she got the money and was never
charged with a crime. But the police kept her money anyway. Nearly
four years later, she is still trying to get her money back.

Ethel Hylton is just one of a large and growing list of Americans --
now numbering in the hundreds of thousands -- who have been victimized
by civil asset forfeiture. Under civil asset forfeiture, everything
you own can be legally taken away even if you are never indicted,
tried or convicted of a crime.

Suspicion of offenses which, if proven in court, might result in a
$200 fine or probation, are being used to justify seizure of tens or
even hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of property. Totally
innocent Americans are losing their cars, homes and businesses, based
on the claims of anonymous informants that illegal transactions took
place on their property. Once property is seized, it is virtually
impossible to get it back.

Property is now being seized in every state and from every class of
Americans. Seizures include pocket money confiscated from public
housing residents in Florida; cars taken away from men suspected of
soliciting prostitutes in Oregon; and homes taken away from ordinary,
middle class Americans whose teenage children are accused of selling a
few joints of marijuana. No person and no property is immune from
seizure. You could be the next victim. Here are some examples:

* In Washington, D.C. police stop black men on the streets in poor areas
  of the city, and "routinely confiscate small amounts of cash and
  jewelry".  Most confiscated property is not even recorded by police
  departments. "Resident Ben Davis calls it 'robbery with a badge'."
  [USA Today, 5/18/92]

* In Iowa, "a woman accused of shoplifting a $25 sweater had her $18,000
  car -- specially equipped for her handicapped daughter -- seized as
  the 'getaway vehicle'." [USA Today, 5/18/92]

* In December 1988, Detroit drug police raided a grocery store, but
  failed to find any drugs. After drug dogs reacted to three $1.00 bills
  in the cash register, the police seized $4,384 from cash registers and
  the store safe. According to the Pittsburgh Press, over 92% of all
  cash in circulation in the U.S. now shows some drug residue.

* In April 1992, Dr. David Disbrow was accused of practicing psychiatry
  without a license. His crime was providing counselling services from a
  spare bedroom in his mother's house in Monmouth, New Jersey.
  Counselling does not require a license in New Jersey. That didn't stop
  police from seizing virtually everything of value from his mother's
  home, totalling over $60,000. The forfeiture squad confiscated
  furniture, carpets, paintings, and even personal photographs.

* Kathy and Mark Schrama were arrested just before Christmas 1990 at
  their home in New Jersey. Kathy was charged with taking $500 worth of
  UPS packages from neighbors=92 porches. Mark was charged with receiving
  stolen goods. If found guilty, they might have paid a small fine and
  received probation. The day after their arrest, their house, cars and
  furniture were seized. Based upon mere accusation, $150,000 in
  property was confiscated, without trial or indictment. Police even
  took their clothing, eyeglasses, and Christmas presents for their
  10-year-old son.

The incentive for government agencies to expand forfeiture is
enormous. Agencies can easily seize property and they usually keep
what they take. According to the Pittsburgh Press, 80% of seizure
victims are never even charged with a crime. Law enforcement agencies
often keep the best seized cars, watches and TVs for their
"departments", and sell the rest.

How extensive are seizures in America today? In April 1990, The
Washington Post reported that the U.S. Marshals Service alone had an
inventory of over $1.4 billion in seized assets, including over 30,000
cars, boats, homes and businesses. Federal and state agencies seizing
property now include the FBI, the DEA, the U.S. Marshals Service, the
Coast Guard, the IRS, local police, highway patrol, the Department of
Housing and Urban Development, FDA, and the Bureau of Land Management.
Asset forfeiture is a growth industry. Seizures have increased from
$27 million in 1986, to over $644 million in 1991. In 1993, seizures
exceeded $2 billion.

Civil asset forfeiture defines a new standard of justice in America;
or more precisely, a new standard of injustice. Under civil seizure,
property, not an individual is charged with an offense. Even if you
are a totally innocent owner, the government can still confiscate your
"guilty" property.

If government agents seize your property under civil asset forfeiture,
you can forget about being innocent until proven guilty, due process
of law, the right to an attorney, or even the right to trial. All of
those rights only exist if you are charged with a criminal offense;
that is, with an offense which could result in your imprisonment. If
you (or your property) are accused of a civil offense (offenses which
could not result in your imprisonment), the Supreme Count has ruled
that you have no presumption of innocence, no right to an attorney,
and no protection from double jeopardy.

Seizure occurs when government takes away your property. Forfeiture is
when legal title is permanently transferred to the state. To get
seized property returned, you have to fight the full resources of your
state or the federal government; sometimes both! You have to prove
your property's "innocence" by documenting how you earned every cent
used to pay for it. You have to prove that neither you nor any of your
family members ever committed an illegal act involving the property.

To get a trial, you have to post a non-refundable "bond" of 10% of the
value of your property. You have to pay attorney fees -- ranging from
$5,000 to over $100,000 -- out of your own pocket. Money you pay your
attorney is also subject to seizure (either before or after the trial)
if the government alleges that those funds were "tainted". And you may
be forced to go through trial after trial, because under civil seizure
the Constitutional protection against "double jeopardy" doesn't apply.
Once your property is seized, expect to spend years fighting
government agencies and expect to be impoverished by legal fees --
with no guarantee of winning -- while the government keeps your car,
home and bank account.

As bad as current asset forfeiture laws are, even worse laws may be
just ahead. The Omnibus Crime Bill -- now before Congress -- gives
authorities six-and-one-half years to return improperly seized assets
to their rightful owners. (How much would your home or car be worth
after six-and-a-half years without maintenance?)

In California, legislation is now pending to seize the assets of any
business that employs illegal aliens -- even if employers don't know
they're illegals.

And Clinton's "Health Security Act" makes it a federal crime for your
doctor to accept money directly from you for 95% of all medical
services. The penalty: confiscation of all of your doctor's assets,
$50,000 fines, and 15 years in prison.

Some Americans are fighting back against the police confiscations.
Last year, state representative Maddy introduced a bill in California
that would have allowed the government to confiscate million-dollar
restaurants and $100 million hotels, if anyone alleges that a patron
has committed a drug crime on the premises. A coalition of anti-
forfeiture groups, led by San Francisco attorney Brenda Grantland,
successfully defeated this bill, and forced California to eliminate
other recent confiscation laws.

In Washington, D.C. two excellent forfeiture reform bills =96
sponsored by Reps. Conyers and Hyde -- are now pending. Both bills
would significantly curtail police confiscations. (The Justice
Department is trying to block them).

Finally four recent Supreme Court decisions have placed some
restrictions on confiscations. Legal notice and a hearing are now
required before homes can be seized. And the amount of property
confiscated must now be "proportionate" to the seriousness of the
alleged offense.

Despite these positive steps, police confiscations continue to
increase. Every week over 5,000 innocent Americans -- like you -- are
now losing their cars, homes, bank accounts, and businesses. Only 3 in
100 confiscation victims ever get a trial. YOU could easily be the
next target.

The fight against civil asset forfeiture is a battle against tyranny
in America. If forfeiture squads continue to expand, liberty and
justice in America will become a fleeting memory. At the present rate
of increase, within 17 years all property in America will be
confiscated by the government You need to take steps NOW to protect
yourself, and to help stop the looting of America.

Distribution:

To: "B.J. Lozovoy" > [72162,1174]
cc: Jim Quinn > [72662,3507]