Maine Troopers Seize $1M in Cash from Truck in York

Maybe Jhon Rivera-Ramirez doesn't trust banks. Maybe he prefers doing business with cash. Hmm.

Either way, he must be wishing he'd kept a clean logbook right now.

There is so much here that is left unexplained.

Strange that the truck was going south, what? To Mexico? Did they come across the Canadian border?

As far as I know, hauling cash is not any more illegal than stuffing cash into the lining of one's coat.

How do they get the right to seize the money while not charging the driver or passenger in any crime involving the money?

Michelle, the guy was arrested for logbook violations. What should the cops have done with the money, leave it?

As the article stated, it's illegal to transport more than $10K over the border without making a declaration. I would surmise that the truck driver made no such declaration concerning his cargo.

What border did he cross, Wells to York, Me to NH?

The article doesn't indicate which border he crossed, but again, one could surmise it was the Canadian border.

It's not theirs, so how can they take it? I know that when they take a person in for drunk driving -- which is far more serious than the logbook violation -- they don't empty the car or the truck. They lock it and do what they are charged to do.

Not only did the driver bail out shortly after his arrest, but his partner was not arrested and could surely have kept an eye on it.

Or do you mean that because it's money, the government should take it?

Are the police allowed to take money from my car if they want?

Which is my point. They were several hours away from any international border.

I don't think "surmising" approaches "probable cause," logbook violations notwithstanding.

If he did nothing wrong, one could assume he'd get the money back. I mean, sure - it could be he's just eccentric, and instead of wiring his money to a bank, like most normal folks (and making interest on it, meantime), he likes to drive it around in a truck. Who knows?

However, I'd be skeptical of that particular scenario being accurate.

YOW!!!!

Photo courtesy of Maine State Police

"...The stop, which occurred on the ME Turnpike, southbound in York at about noon involved a tractor-trailer registered in the State of Texas. The driver, Jhon Rivera-Ramirez, age 35 and passenger Jose Javier Perez, age 46, were found to be in possession of false logs... A subsequent search of the trailer yielded ... in excess of $1 million."

Posted on the Bangor Daily News site.

http://www.bangordailynews.com/story/Portland/Maine-troopers-stop-truck-...

it's illegal to transport more than $10K over the border without making a declaration.

So what is the penalty for not declaring it? Taking all of it?

One of the comments to the Bangor Daily News story:

...."Good news! If the constabulary can pull this off 4100 more times the State pension program is free and clear"....

Probably was the proceeds of the latest haul into Washington, County.

Couldn't have been cocaine as a million clams worth of that would fit in my mini van. It would take a tractor trailer to haul a million bucks worth of the green weed.

If the boys in blue can find a little dope residue in the trailer it will all be theirs to buy new SWAT equipment with.

WC

At a thousand dollars a pound a thousand pounds equals a million dollars. I can haul that in my ranger easily.

charlie

Soon every cop in the state can be outfitted in full battle fatigues and fully autometic weapons. Heck maybe they can even get some tanks and heavy artillary.

Did they need a warrant to inspect the cargo for a driver's log violation?

It's so wonderful when the iron fist of government protects us!

Love the fist of unending wars!

(unfortunately, the war is on you and you get to pay for it)

Generally, having large sums of cash is considered as possibly drug connected. The money can be seized without charging someone. They "arrest" the money, which allows them to use a different set of rules. The money is considered guilty until proven innocent. You must prove the money is yours legally in order to get it back. It's usually not easy. Police in Louisiana make quite a haul by pulling people over for what's privately referred to as "driving while Hispanic". Mexican agricultural workers bringing their season's wages back to Mexico in cash have it seized on suspicion of it being drug proceeds. 60 Minutes ran footage of Louisiana police skiing in Aspen on the proceeds of the forfeitures. That was quite a few years ago, but nothing ever seemed to be done about it.

Asset forfeiture is a very profitable racket for many government agencies and their employees.

It has put many small firearms dealers out of business.

I'm going to guess these guys were involved in the drug trade. If the cops did everything legally and it's proven that I'm right, I say GOOD WORK.....take the scum down, and take their cash.

I think it is glaringly obvious racial profiling . It is disgusting that the police and all you people assume that these hispanic looking gentlemen must be breaking a law to have that much cash . I suspect they earned it picking blueberries and got a good deal on the trailer truck so they bought it and were driving it home and didn't know about log books . The state police should be sued and you all should be ashamed of your racial profiling.

Amen Uljas! Will someone please call eric holder????

Do you need a freezer truck to haul that much money?

Former Congressman William Jefferson would be the person to ask that question.

These guys work the same way that Maine and Federal Revenue services work.

All throughout the year they "seize" your cash at evey opportunity they can. Then at some point down the road, before a deadline set by them, you have to go to work and "prove" that at least some of it is rightfully yours and should be returned. At some point in time, also of their choice, they will return what portion of your cash they think you should have, conveniently not paying you any interest on this free money, some of which they have had the use of for up to 12 mos.

But god help you if you owe them and miss their deadline by even one day as YOU will owe THEM interest, and you can bet money on that.

Just another kind of legal shakedown.

As I have said here many times before: "When those who are charged with "enforcing" the law are able to profit from that "enforcement" in any way, including on the department level, the entire enterprise is "ethically challenged".

No matter what criminal enterprise is ongoing, if the cops can benefit from seizing assets, we have opened a door to places I really don't think we should be going.

The "war on drugs" is just job security for those with badges, and the legal profession.

This is just the latest example.

WC

WC, the assett forfeiture racket has been going on for many years. I remember a few years back there was an ATF field office out west where they had trinkets such as pens mde with the logo "ATF- Always Think Forfeiture"... Caused quite a kerfuffle at the time.

This makes things even less clear. If they don't know where it was coming from, that explains why no one was arrested for smuggling money over a border. But it suggests that the police were guessing when they grabbed the money.

Again I ask: Can the cops just take money if they want, claiming it is smuggled?

Michelle, in a word, yes. If you are stopped with a large amount of cash they can seize it and hold it until such time as you can prove that you legitimately own it.

Well, how do they square that with the Fourth Amendment? Or the Fifth Amendment?

If someone put away $50 a day for 10 years and suddenly realized maybe they should put it in the bank, and got caught speeding with it sitting in pile on their passenger seat, the cops can confiscate it until the driver could prove it was theirs? How would they go about proving it if they never revealed it to anyone?