Pubdate: Mon, 11 Jun 2001
Source: Quad-City Times (IA)
Copyright: 2001 Quad-City Times
Contact:  http://www.qctimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/857
Author: Marc Chase
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/af.htm (Asset Forfeiture)

RECORDS MESS, PROBE STALL VEHICLE FORFEITURE PROCESS

Times Investigation: Inside Q-C Drug Fight

A Seasprite pleasure boat seized in a drug raid three years ago by 
Davenport police still sits in a city impound garage along with 19 
other seized vehicles, all wearing thick coats of dust.

The courts already have ruled that the department can sell the 
collection of cars, trucks and boats and use the proceeds for crime 
fighting. But the process of disposing of the 20 vehicles has been on 
hold for 15 months as state criminal investigators probe the records 
kept by a former Davenport police vice unit commander, department 
officials say.

Evidence in the case now casts doubt on the validity of some of those records.

A Quad-City Times review of five years worth of Davenport police 
seizure records and other department documents found:

- - One case in which fired Davenport police Sgt. Greg Collins 
falsified court records to show that a seized 1985 Chevy Blazer had 
been returned to its original owners when, in fact, he had kept the 
vehicle for himself and sold it for an $1,100 profit.

- - A case in which police inventory forms show Collins and other vice 
officers seized $898 from three suspected drug dealers. Court 
documents for the same case show $165.22 of the money was awarded to 
law enforcement but give no account of what happened to the remaining 
$732.78 in cash.

Those discrepancies explain why Iowa Division of Criminal 
Investigation detectives have to go through hundreds of cases 
supervised, or personally handled by Collins, trying to determine if 
he should face criminal charges.

In addition, Davenport investigators now say a mess of envelopes 
amassed in the police evidence locker includes 171 envelopes 
containing $111,442.54 in seized money that should have been turned 
over to the Scott County Attorney's office for forfeiture 
proceedings. Some of the cases were as many as eight years old.

These findings come more than a year after separate probes by the 
Times and the Davenport police internal affairs office showed Collins 
had used seized property and money for his own benefit. Collins, a 
22-year veteran of the force, was fired in July 2000 as a result of 
those probes.

Most Davenport police officials, DCI investigators and prosecutors 
from the Iowa Attorney General's office have refused to comment about 
the findings until the criminal investigation is complete.

But one police official, who spoke last month under condition of 
anonymity, characterized the examples as a "trail of confusion," 
making it necessary for DCI investigators to examine hundreds of 
seizure cases to get to the bottom of what actually happened.

Davenport police officials say the mess has created problems for 
internal affairs investigators as well.

"Just in our department's review alone, these kinds of things have 
made things harder because you can never find what you are looking 
for all in the same place," said Lt. Scott Sievert, who had worked as 
one of Collins' supervisors. "Records are out of place or don't show 
you what actually happened."

The Cause

Davenport police officials and Scott County prosecutors blame part of 
the problem on the unbridled control of vice squad accounts and 
seized property given to Collins by his supervisors.

A Times investigation published in January 2000 showed Collins had 
sole authority over transferring titles and setting prices for 
vehicles his vice squad seized in drug raids. He later purchased two 
of the vehicles - a 1990 Cadillac and a 1989 Chevrolet Astro Van - 
shortchanging the city $2,300.

Collins' vice officers seized the Cadillac from the same suspected 
drug dealer who owned the Seasprite boat, now sitting in storage.

And in another case, he falsified court documents to obtain a 
Chevrolet Blazer his vice unit seized from two suspected drug dealers 
in November 1998, department documents allege.

A letter sent to Collins by Interim Chief Wayne Nelson on July 13, 
2000, accuses Collins of using his position to purchase the Blazer 
for $500 on June 26, 1999.

Court documents in the case stated the vehicle was returned to its 
original owner. But Nelson's letter stated that an internal 
investigation showed Collins falsified the court documents and then 
sold the Blazer for a $1,100 profit.

These findings have meant investigators have had to review the paper 
trails of all vehicles seized by the Davenport vice unit during 
Collins' nearly 8-year tenure as commander, police officials say.

And with evidence that at least one document has been falsified, 
investigators have not always been sure exactly what they are looking 
at, one official said.

According to Scott County Court documents kept on file at the county 
attorney's office, the Davenport Police Department was given legal 
title to 32 seized vehicles between Jan. 1, 1996, and November of 
2000.

Normally, seized vehicles are either used by the department as 
undercover cars or sold and the proceeds used to fund crime-fighting 
programs.

"But we've been holding on to 20 vehicles because of the problems," 
Sievert said. "And we've only moved to seize two vehicles since 
January of 2000 because of the investigation."

The Solutions

Sievert said the department recently received approval from DCI to 
begin disposing of the 20 backlogged vehicles.

"We just haven't had time to get to it yet," he said. "Our plates are 
full with working through several issues, and it will take time."

When the vehicles are sold, it will be at public auction - not on 
consignment through a local used car dealer as Collins had done. The 
method Collins used to sell the vehicles was prohibited by state law.

"From now on, they will go through the same auction process as all 
other forfeited property," said Sievert, noting that Scotty's Auction 
Service, 5403 Rockingham Road, Davenport, handles all city auctions.

Police Chief Mike Bladel also has added the position of department 
auditor to the force, naming Capt. Jay Verhorevoort, a certified 
public accountant, as the overseer of police funds.

Authority over vice accounts has been split up between Sievert and 
the sergeant of the unit, with oversight by Verhorevoort.

"We know we took some hits on this one, and rightfully so," Bladel 
said. "But we're getting things in order and have added safeguards to 
try to prevent it from happening again."
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MAP posted-by: Josh Sutcliffe