Forfeited Cash, Property in Drug Seizures Is a Legal Perk

Of all the contraband seized by the federal Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) and the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department, the island in the Florida Keys sparks the most daydreams.

One detective suggests jokingly that Ventura County build a sheriff’s summer camp there. Another envisions jetting off to Florida for a working vacation.

The reality is less exotic: The “island” is actually a 45-acre plot on a trailer-studded atoll called Big Koppit Key that no one in the department has ever seen. A 20-minute hop from Key West, the plot was seized two years ago under a federal law that allows local agencies to keep as much as 90% of the assets taken from suspected drug traffickers, but it remains locked in litigation because its owners are contesting the forfeiture.

So far, Ventura County has recovered only about $160,000 under the 1984 Comprehensive Crime Control Act, said Lt. Paul Anderson, who heads the sheriff’s narcotics squad.

But that’s all changing. Spurred by increased drug dealing and gang activity, local law enforcement agencies and the FBI two months ago mounted a more aggressive effort to identify and seize the assets of suspected drug traffickers in Ventura County. While no more treasure islands have surfaced, the booty does include cars, cash and houses, including a Santa Paula residence worth about $280,000 that federal marshals seized last Friday.

All told, the Sheriff’s Department now stands to collect as much as $700,000 in forfeited assets, Anderson said.

And it is upping the ante weekly with additional seizures.

“If you want to sell drugs from a residence in Ventura County, be prepared to live in a tent,” said Gary Auer, the Ventura County supervisor for the FBI, which is helping county law enforcement agencies shepherd seizures through the complex federal system.

While the public favors coming down hard on drug dealers, the seizure program is not universally embraced. The American Civil Liberties Union has denounced the practice, partly because the government is allowed to acquire properties regardless of whether their owners have been convicted on drug charges.

“We’re opposed to the whole concept,” said Joel Maliniak, an ACLU spokesman. “By confiscating a person’s belongings before guilt has been determined, you are running the American system in reverse.”

Gaining legal title to seized assets can take six months to three years, depending on whether the suspected dealer fights the forfeiture process. Problems mushroom if the defendant transfers ownership to a friend or relative before authorities obtain a court order to seize the property.

Then there’s divvying up the spoils. Under federal statute, the DEA gets 10% of the seized assets, and the balance is divided among participating agencies, based on the amount of work each does on the case. Those agencies may include the U.S. Attorney’s Office, the Sheriff’s Department and local police departments.

Many Competing Claims

“If we make a $20,000 seizure, everyone’s going to put a claim on the money,” Anderson said.

Some law enforcement agencies in other counties have been known to squabble over the proceeds, but Anderson said he settles for whatever share the FBI or DEA doles out.

Anderson said the Sheriff’s Department, working with the FBI, has seized more than $1 million in cash, four houses--including a $500,000 house in Bell Canyon--two dozen cars, a cabin cruiser, a twin-engine airplane, a motorcycle and some stereo equipment and furniture.

The Oxnard Police Department helped seize a house in Newbury Park and “we’re planning on seizing some others,” said Oxnard Police Sgt. Jess Velasquez, who declined to be more specific.

The Ventura Police Department was involved in the recent seizure of an El Rio house, $83,000 in cash, a 1986 Corvette and a 1984 Jaguar, “which is gorgeous,” Ventura Police Sgt. Steve Bowman said.

Santa Paula and Simi Valley have also seized assets of suspected drug dealers.

Of course, that’s a drop in the bucket compared to the booty recovered by some law enforcement agencies. Police in Southern California have recovered more than $30 million in cash and property since the 1984 forfeiture law was passed, DEA spokesman Dwight McKinney said.

Budget Benefits

Glendale’s five-person drug enforcement bureau has been so successful that it paid its $330,000 annual budget two years into the future with forfeited funds, for example. Its officers have arrested 245 suspected drug smugglers and seized $8.5 million in cash. They travel routinely from San Diego to Santa Barbara to pursue cases.

Santa Barbara County’s Sheriff Department, on the other hand, has seized “$100,000 at tops,” Sheriff’s Lt. Bill Lenzik said.

Police in drug trafficking hubs such as Los Angeles obviously reap greater benefits from the federal forfeiture law than those in areas such as Santa Barbara and Ventura County, where the problem is not as widespread.

Still, Anderson said, “You start seizing people’s houses, and in this county, with what they’re worth, the potential is enormous.”

To invoke the statute, the U.S. Attorney must show that the assets were purchased with drug money or used to sell, transport or handle drugs. Anderson said the law allows seizures of owner-occupied homes where an ounce or more of cocaine or heroin is found. For marijuana, the amount is 100 pounds.

Auer of the FBI said the Ventura County task force does not go after motel owners or landlords who rent to suspected drug traffickers because it is difficult to prove that the owners know about the illegal activity. But he does not discount that possibility.

Relatively New

“It’s all relatively new, but we are now looking at every dope deal to see if the real property is seizable under the current statutes,” Anderson said.

Just last week, sheriff’s deputies seized a horse and a 210-plant marijuana plantation in Lockwood Valley and arrested 38-year-old Lynn Osburn.

Anderson said he probably will not file to recover either the land or the horse: Osburn was a renter, and the horse would cost more to board and feed than it would eventually fetch at auction.

Under federal law, the U.S. Attorney’s Office files for title to the forfeited cash and property and notifies potential claimants of the seizure, both in person and through a newspaper notice.

If the seizure is contested, a U.S. District Court trial--before a jury if the claimant desires--is held to determine ownership.

Property can also be seized under a state statute, but California requires that 35% of the forfeited money be turned over to the state, which makes this path less appealing than its federal counterpart.

Also, the state auctions off seized vehicles and gives the agencies the proceeds, while the federal law allows the agencies to keep the vehicles for undercover work if they desire.

Both statutes mandate that money recovered from the forfeiture sale be plowed back into enforcing narcotics laws.

In Ventura County, the Sheriff’s Department’s 20-person narcotics squad has used the $160,000 recovered to fund anti-drug educational efforts, such as D.A.R.E. The county also purchased automatic handguns and police surveillance equipment such as cellular phones and pagers.

High Tech Competition

“If drug dealers use pagers, we should too,” Anderson said.

Eventually, Ventura County Sheriff John Gillespie said he hopes the forfeiture program will not only pay for itself but bring in revenues. He made this comment in July when he pleaded unsuccessfully with the Ventura County Board of Supervisors for $750,000 to launch an anti-drug/gang task force. The board gave him $250,000.

As for the 45 acres on Big Koppit Key, Assistant U.S. Atty. Carolyn Reynolds contends it was bought by Michael Greene, a former Ventura County resident, who planned to use it to offload cocaine and grow an improved type of marijuana.

Reynolds also contends that Greene, who is a fugitive, used his mother as a front to buy the land. The executors of his mother’s will contest the government’s claim, and thus disposition of the land--which could fetch from $150,000 to more than $1 million, depending on its zoning--remains in limbo.