Pubdate: Sat, 08 Mar 2014
Source: Albuquerque Journal (NM)
Copyright: 2014 Albuquerque Journal
Contact:  http://www.abqjournal.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/10
Author: Scott Sonner, The Associated Press
Page: B6
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/af.htm (Asset Forfeiture)

NEV. DEPUTY ACCUSED IN CASH SEIZURE SCAM

Two Lawsuits Claim Stops Unconstitutional

RENO, Nev. - A rural Nevada sheriff's deputy is accused of stopping
travelers on a lonely stretch of U.S. Interstate 80 and confiscating
tens of thousands of dollars for the county without bringing charges,
according to two federal lawsuits.

Two men who were traveling alone through northern Nevada's high desert
last year offer strikingly similar accounts of their stops by the same
Humboldt County deputy near the town of Winnemucca, about 165 miles
east of Reno.

Neither search produced drugs or an arrest, but in one case Deputy Lee
Dove took a briefcase filled with $50,000 and in the other he seized
$13,800 and a handgun, according to the lawsuits filed in U.S.
District Court in Reno.

Both men said they were told they'd be released with their vehicles
only if they forfeited their cash.

"It's like Jesse James or Black Bart," said longtime Reno defense
lawyer John Ohlson, who filed suit on behalf of Tan Nguyen, 37, of
Newport, Calif.

The lawsuits say the cash seizures are part of a pattern of stopping
drivers for speeding as a pretext for drug busts, which violates the
Constitution. They maintain Dove, Sheriff Ed Kilgore, Humboldt County
and its prosecutors condone the practice.

Two Reno lawyers representing the county did not immediately respond
to telephone or email messages seeking comment, nor did Kilgore or
Dove.

Chief Deputy District Attorney Kevin Pasquale told The Associated
Press, "As a matter of policy, we never comment on pending
litigation." County officials were not shy in the past about
discussing their cash seizures. The day after Nguyen had his money
taken, the sheriff issued a news release with a photograph of Dove
pictured with a K-9 and $50,000 in seized cash "after a traffic stop
for speeding."

"This cash would have been used to purchase illegal drugs and now will
benefit Humboldt County with training and equipment. Great job," the
statement said. Dove's report said he had the money counted at a bank,
then gave it to the district attorney's office "for asset/seizure/
forfeiture."

Nguyen's suit says Dove stopped him Sept. 23 for driving 78 mph in a
75 zone in what his lawyers described as a "profile stop" based on
suspicion he was transporting drugs in a rental car picked up at the
Denver airport.

Dove wrote in his report Nguyen agreed to a search before opening the
briefcase with the $50,000 in cash. Nguyen denies that he consented.

Nguyen told Dove he won the money at a casino on the way to visit his
cousins in California, according to Dove's report, but Dove told
Nguyen he suspected the money was obtained illegally. Dove reported he
smelled marijuana but didn't find any.

Nguyen was given a written warning for speeding but wasn't
cited.

As a condition of release, Nguyen signed a "property for safekeeping
receipt," which indicated the money was abandoned or seized and not
returnable. But the lawsuit says he did so only because Dove
threatened to seize his vehicle unless he "got in his car and drove
off and forgot this ever happened."

Winnemucca, with a population of about 8,000, is one of just a few
towns spread across a 250-mile stretch of I-80 in northern Nevada.

Ken Smith, who lives near Denver, tells a similar story about his
speeding stop Dec. 16.

"It's pretty scary to be out in the middle of nowhere on the side of
the road and be told all your stuff is going to be taken away," said
attorney Jeff Dickerson, who filed a suit last month on Smith's behalf.

Dove detained Smith on a warrant for another man named Smith, even
though Dove had information showing the wanted Smith was black and had
a different birth date, the lawsuit said. Ken Smith is white.

Smith eventually was allowed to leave and signed the waiver
surrendering $13,800 and his pistol. Besides emotional distress and
humiliation, the lawsuit says he now suffers from "fear of law
enforcement" and the loss of his .40 caliber Ruger handgun.

Kilgore said in a March 2013 news release that, in the previous two
years, a task force made up of Dove, two other officers and three K-9s
seized more than 800 pounds of pot, two pounds of meth, three ounces
of cocaine, a half ounce of heroin and about $180,000 in cash.
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