A LESSON IN HOUSEKEEPING

Boulder City Woman Convicted Of Pot Possession Will Keep Home, For A Price

Boulder City's attorney has decided he doesn't want to seize Cynthia
Warren's house after all. In fact, he says he never did.

Although state law allows authorities to confiscate any homes and
vehicles used in drug dealing, Boulder City Attorney Dave Olsen told
the Las Vegas Sun this week he is optimistic he will reach a cash
settlement in the civil forfeiture suit he filed against Warren. In
July she was convicted of marijuana possession, a misdemeanor.

Warren was arrested April 13 after police say they found six pot
plants, 2.9 ounces of the marijuana, plastic sandwich bags, sales
records and cultivation instructions inside her Boulder City home. In
exchange for a no-contest plea, Warren received a suspended 30-day
jail sentence and a $500 fine and is required to undergo drug
counseling. And in exchange for whatever amount Olsen accepts, Warren
also gets to keep her house, which is valued at $400,000 and nearly paid off.

In an effort to keep drug sales in check, Olsen said he regularly
files for confiscation of personal property, such as houses and
vehicles, in drug-related cases. One resident previously paid the
city $3,000 rather than lose his vehicle, which authorities said was
used to transport drugs.

Olsen filed the suit against Warren about a week after her arrest,
and before she had been sentenced. But, as Olsen told the Sun this
week, a settlement was his "objective from the outset" and is part of
a process for dealing with such cases he has used for 16 years. Olsen
has never taken anyone's property in such cases.

"We have always settled," he said. "Contrary to what some people
might believe, I am not interested in taking this poor woman's house."

Well, "some people" believe what their city attorney says in the
court documents he files. Forgive them. They should know better --
especially in a city where threatening to take away people's personal
property for crimes for which they already have been punished is the
way business is done. In talking with the Sun last month, Olsen said
his office has a mandate to crack down on drug cases because two
teenagers have died of overdoses in the past two years.

"The best way to send a message to folks that drug distribution to
young people won't be tolerated is to take away their house," he told
the Sun. "We are sending a message loud and clear that if you package
and distribute drugs from your house, you lose your home." Unless you
can provide, as Olsen calls Warren's settlement, "a token payment of
some kind." That message also is clear and sounds more like extortion
than crime prevention.