Chief Investigative Reporter
May
22, 2012
MONTEREY, Tenn. ~ "If somebody told me this happened to them, I absolutely would not believe this could happen in America."
That was the reaction of a New Jersey man
who found out just how risky it can be to carry cash through Tennessee.
For more than a year, NewsChannel 5
Investigates has been shining a light on a practice that some call
"policing for profit."
In this latest case, a Monterey police
officer took $22,000 off the driver ~ even though he had committed no crime.
"You live in the United States, you think you have rights ~ and apparently you don't," said George Reby.
As a professional insurance adjuster, Reby
spends a lot of time traveling from state to state. But it was on a trip to a
conference in Nashville last January that he got a real education in Tennessee
justice.
"I never had any clue that they
thought they could take my money legally," Reby added. "I didn't do
anything wrong."
Reby was driving down Interstate 40,
heading west through Putnam County, when he was stopped for speeding.
A Monterey police officer wanted to know if
he was carrying any large amounts of cash.
"I said, 'Around $20,000,'" he
recalled. "Then, at the point, he said, 'Do you mind if I search your
vehicle?' I said, 'No, I don't mind.' I certainly didn't feel I was doing
anything wrong. It was my money."
That's when Officer Larry Bates confiscated
the cash based on his suspicion that it was drug money.
"Why didn't you arrest him?" we
asked Bates.
"Because he hadn't committed a
criminal law," the officer answered.
Bates said the amount of money and the way
it was packed gave him reason to be suspicious.
"The safest place to put your money if
it's legitimate is in a bank account," he explained. "He stated he
had two. I would put it in a bank account. It draws interest and it's
safer."
"But it's not illegal to carry
cash," we noted.
"No, it's not illegal to carry
cash," Bates said. "Again, it's what the cash is being used for to
facilitate or what it is being utilized for."
NewsChannel 5 Investigates noted, "But you had
no proof that money was being used for drug trafficking, correct? No
proof?"
"And he couldn't prove it was
legitimate," Bates insisted.
Bates is part of a system that, NewsChannel 5
Investigates has discovered, gives Tennessee police agencies the incentive
to take cash off of out-of-state drivers. If they don't come back to fight for
their money, the agency gets to keep it all.
"This is a taking without due
process," said Union City attorney John Miles.
A former Texas prosecutor and chairman of
the Obion County Tea Party, Miles has seen similar cases in his area.
He said that, while police are required to
get a judge to sign off on a seizure within five days, state law says that
hearing "shall be ex parte" ~ meaning only the officer's side can be heard.
That's why George Reby was never told that
there was a hearing on his case.
"It wouldn't have mattered because the
judge would have said, 'This says it shall be ex parte. Sit down and shut up.
I'm not to hear from you ~ by statute," Miles added.
George Reby said that he told Monterey
officers that "I had active bids on EBay that I was trying to buy a
vehicle. They just didn't want to hear it."
In fact, Reby had proof on his computer.
But the Monterey officer drew up a damning
affidavit, citing his own training that "common people do not carry this
much U.S. currency."
"On the street, a thousand-dollar
bundle could approximately buy two ounces of cocaine," Bates told NewsChannel 5
Investigates.
"Or the money could have been used to
buy a car," we observed.
"It's possible," he admitted.
NewsChannel 5 Investigates asked Bates if Reby had
told him that he was trying to buy a car?
"He did," the officer
acknowledged.
"But you did not include that in your
report," we noted.
"If it's not in there, I didn't put it
in there."
So why did he leave that out?
"I don't know," the officer said.
Bates also told the judge the money was
hidden inside "a tool bag underneath trash to [deter] law enforcement from
locating it."
"That's inaccurate," Reby said.
"I pulled out the bag and gave it to him."
And even though there was no proof that
Reby was involved in anything illegal, Bates' affidavit portrays him as a man
with a criminal history that included an arrest for possession of cocaine.
That was 20-some years ago," the New
Jersey man insisted.
"Were you convicted?" we wanted
to know.
"No, I wasn't convicted," he
answered.
But Officer Bates says that arrest ~ which
he acknowledged was old ~ was still part of the calculation to take Reby's
money.
"Am I going to use it? Yes, I'm going
to use it because he's been charged with it in the past ~ regardless of whether
it's 10 or 15 years ago," he said.
Attorney John Miles said he's frustrated
with attitudes toward Tennessee's civil forfeiture laws, which make such
practices legal.
"We are entitled not to be deprived of
our property without due process of law, both under the Tennessee Constitution
and the federal Constitution ~ and nobody cares," Miles said.
"Nobody cares."
This year, state lawmakers debated a bill
to create a special committee to investigate these "policing for
profit" issues. That bill died in the last days of the legislative
session.
After Reby filed an appeal, and after
NewsChannel 5 began investigating, the state agreed to return his money ~ if
he'd sign a statement waiving his constitutional rights and promising not to
sue.
.
Tattoed and rather brainless thug thief policeman.
They also made him come all the way from New Jersey, back to Monterey to pick up a check.
He got the check, but no apology.
"If they lied about everything in the
report, why would they apologize?" Reby said.
And, with that, he was ready to put
Tennessee in his rear view mirror.
"I really don't want to come back
here," he said.
As for the appeals process, Reby was able
to provide us and the state with letters from his employers, showing that he
had a legitimate source of income.
It took him four months to get his money
back, but it usually takes a lot longer for most people.
And that, Miles said, works to the benefit
of the police.
He had two clients where police agreed to
drop the cases in exchange for a cut of the money ~ $1,000 in one case, $2,000
in another. In both cases, that was less than what they might have paid in
attorney fees.
Miles called that "extortion."
See previous stories: ~ "NC5 Investigates: Policing For
Profit"
E-mail: pwilliams@newschannel5.com
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