ALABAMA BENEFITS FROM MILLIONS IN DRUG FORFEITURES

State, Federal Laws Regulate Money Seizure

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. - Millions of dollars forfeited by drug suspects have
helped Alabama law enforcement agencies purchase equipment and deal with
budget cuts.

State and federal laws, along with U.S. Justice Department guidelines,
strictly outline when money can be seized, how it must be handled, and
finally distributed.

In October 2002, Alabama state troopers seized $1.3 million that a woman
was transporting in a van on Interstate 20/59 through Tuscaloosa County
near the Greene County line. The woman was not charged with a crime, but
the troopers took 150 pounds of bills bundled in cellophane hidden in her van.

She had the chance to appear in court to prove that the money was
legitimately hers, but she hasn't been heard from since.

So far in 2003, the troopers have seized $686,000, The Tuscaloosa News
reported. The largest seizure this year was made in Tuscaloosa on Sept. 12,
again near the Greene County line, when troopers discovered someone
traveling with $266,000 in cash.

Three days later, during the same detail, they seized $169,000 from a
driver in Greene County near the county line.

On Oct. 9, deputies with the Tuscaloosa Sheriff's Office stopped a
southbound driver on I-20/59 in Tuscaloosa County and found a hidden
compartment containing $824,605.

U.S. Attorney Alice Martin filed charges against the man, Javier
Garcia-Lara, 37, of Mexico, under a provision of the Patriot Act. He was
charged with attempting to evade currency-reporting laws.

In 2002, the sheriff's office seized a total of $2,895,768. Once it was
determined that the money came from narcotics activities, $1,945,002 came
back to the department. So far, the sheriff's office has seized $1.28
million in 2003, all of which is still pending in legal action.

Tuscaloosa Sheriff Ted Sexton said he has used $996,495 of forfeiture funds
to purchase equipment for every division in his department.

Items purchased include a robot to defuse explosives, an aluminum boat, two
motorcycles and 75 digital cameras.

The Alabama Department of Public Safety also is working on making these
types of busts.

Two troopers have been working on felony detection full time for the past
two years. Two more were added on Nov. 1, according to Maj. Patrick
Manning, chief of the Alabama Department of Public Safety's highway patrol
division.

"From time to time, we'll hold special saturation details around the state
where we'll spend a week in an area," he told The Tuscaloosa News. "We'll
set up a saturation detail where we feel like the traveling criminals are
moving through the state. That's what this unit looks for - traveling
criminals."

When any member of law enforcement seizes money from a driver, it is up to
them to prove that it is of suspicious origin, Manning said.

"We don't take money just because we think we can, just because someone is
carrying a large sum of cash," he said. "It has to meet strict criteria."

Criminal defense attorney Joel Sogol of Tuscaloosa said that if an officer
has probable cause to search and seize money from a driver, and proper
forfeiture procedures are followed, such seizures are not a violation of
anyone's rights.

"The circumstances are different in every case. It would seem to me that
unless the police have a good reason, they don't have a right to take it. I
assume that if I'm driving down the highway with a couple thousand dollars
and get stopped, they're not going to take it from me," Sogol said.