Pubdate: Wed, 29 Dec 2004
Source: Ledger-Enquirer (GA)
Copyright: 2004 Ledger-Enquirer
Contact:  http://www.ledger-enquirer.com/mld/enquirer/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/237
Author: Jim Houston
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/af.htm (Asset Forfeiture)

FORFEITURES BENEFIT METRO UNIT

Task Force Seized About $850,000 Worth Of Drugs In 2004, Officer Says

It took only a few seconds, but when no one responded Tuesday to Judge
John Allen's call for interested parties to step forward in a
forfeiture case, the Metro Narcotics Task Force was suddenly more than
$29,000 richer. "I didn't expect anyone to come into court and say,
'That's my money, I gave it to them to come down here and buy
marijuana,' " Assistant District Attorney Maggie Bagley said after
Allen ordered forfeiture of the money seized Sept. 30 during a drug
arrest. The money came to Columbus with two Columbia, S.C., men who
were allegedly trying to buy 60 pounds of marijuana.

When the men arrived at the designated meeting place on Mill Branch
Road, however, they found their prospective seller was working with
the Metro agents.

When the night was done, the unit had seized $28,500 in one bag and
$675 the two men had in their pockets, plus 5.8 ounces of marijuana,
Bagley said. Bryan Brown, 27, who listed his employer as the Richland
County, S.C., school system, and Lance O. Haymon, 28, who worked for a
Columbia, S.C., Honda dealer, posted bonds of $68,000 each through a
Dublin, Ga., bonding company and were released pending trial.

If convicted, they face from five to 20 years in prison and a minimum
$100,000 fine on a charge of conspiracy to traffic in marijuana, up to
10 years for possession of marijuana with intent to distribute, and up
to five years for using a cell phone to arrange the alleged drug
transaction. The forfeiture, however, is a civil action not contingent
upon conviction in the criminal case. Even if the two men were
acquitted, the money seized during the alleged drug deal would remain
in Metro's coffers. "It's the largest we've had since we split, as far
as cash is concerned," said Sgt. Rick Stinson, leader of the Metro
force since it was restructured in August 2003 from a 20-man unit to
an eight-man squad. (The unit is short one agent, operating with only
seven officers because one authorized position from the Columbus
Police Department has not been filled.) The money forfeited to Metro
on Tuesday will go into the force's operating fund, Stinson said. 

"We use that money for drug buys, to pay informants, for items we need for
our operations, and we drive seized vehicles," he said. "Our salaries
are paid by our respective agencies, otherwise we're self-sufficient."
The unit even buys its own computers and equipment from forfeited
money obtained during drug transactions, or from sale of the real
estate, vehicles or other items seized, Stinson said. Operating in
Muscogee County and Harris County in Georgia, and in Russell County,
Ala., the unit still has about $70,000 in funds, vehicles and other
items pending forfeiture. Although totals weren't available Tuesday
for seizures in Georgia -- they're being consolidated, but aren't
complete -- Stinson said the seven-man Metro unit has seized about
$40,000 in cash in Alabama, with $27,000 still pending court order.

Of 20 vehicles seized in that state, five have been forfeited to the
unit, five returned to their owners and 10 await a court ruling. Still
in litigation is a mobile home valued at about $30,000, plus its
furnishings and the lot on which it sits, Stinson said. "We've been
beating the bushes and we've had a good year for seizure of drugs,"
the sergeant said. "We've seized about $850,000-$900,000 worth of drugs."
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