PALM BEACH DEPUTIES, FORMER DOMINICAN OFFICIAL IN TUG-OF-WAR OVER $633,000

Traveling on a La Cubana bus from New York to Miami, Orlando Rosado had
something in two canvas bags the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office wanted
- -- $633,995.

In a routine search, narcotics agents ran a drug-sniffing dog past
passengers' luggage at a West Palm Beach bus stop in January. The dog
reacted to Rosado's bags, and he gave them permission to open them up.

They found what officers call "dealer folds" -- cash bundled with rubber
bands and wrapped in newspaper, packaged for quick counting.

Interviewing Rosado in Spanish, they weren't impressed with his Dominican
Republic congressman's identification -- it expired along with his
four-year term in 1998.

Rosado told them he was only carrying $200,000. Agents say he gave them
different stories about the source of the money and his intentions.

Suspecting it was drug money, they took it and let Rosado go without any
criminal charges.

That started a legal odyssey for Rosado that continues today.

Although he won a fight for the money in civil court, Rosado was charged
with a felony six months after the money was seized.

While agents didn't search Rosado or find drugs in his bags, they seized
the money under the Florida Contraband Forfeiture Act.

The powerful law allows police to keep cash if they can show it was used or
meant to be used for drugs or money laundering.

Ten months later, Rosado still hasn't gotten the money back -- despite a
jury's September decision that it should be returned.

His attorney presented evidence that $433,995 belonged to Rosado's brother,
Rafael, who owns a charter airplane business in the Dominican Republic,
another $150,000 was borrowed from his father and $50,000 belonged to Rosado.

"We felt something was up with the money, but the state didn't prove it was
drug money or anything of that sort," said juror Barbara Woods. "We thought
the [police] dog knew it was drug money. That was what they based their
case on."

Before the civil case went to trial, Rosado was charged in June with being
an unregistered money transmitter -- someone paid to move cash without a
license. His attorney claims it was an attempt to force Rosado to settle
the forfeiture case, an allegation prosecutors deny.

"We have absolutely no interest in the forfeiture side and we expressed
that to the civil attorneys," said James Martz, a division chief in the
Palm Beach County State Attorney's Office. "This office never has and never
will engage in plea bargaining for money."

Because the sum of cash was so large, Rosado is facing a first-degree
felony charge that could bring 30 years in prison and $1.9 million in fines
and penalties.

That makes Miami lawyer William J. Brown angry.

"It's always been about the money," he said. "They've got nothing. They've
got no evidence."

Prosecutors couldn't disagree more, even though jurors in the civil case
didn't see it like the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office.

"We are not doing this vindictively. Here is a guy taken off the bus after
a drug dog hits with $633,000 in cash," Martz said. "What we get is a whole
bunch of stuff that doesn't add up and doesn't make sense."

It's likely a jury will be asked to sort it out a second time.

Brown doesn't typically handle forfeiture cases. He believes in getting
drug runners and their money carriers off the streets.

"Most of the forfeiture guys are guilty," he said. "I agree with the intent
of the law to take every bit of money away from the drug dealers and money
launderers."

So he was skeptical when one of his good clients came to him with an
improbable story in January.

Brown has represented Rafael Zur, a Fort Lauderdale airplane broker, for a
decade. Zur knows Rafael Rosado as a customer who sometimes fell behind on
payments.

That's what Zur said happened with payments for two planes Rafael Rosado's
company, Caribair, bought for about $800,000. Zur had the planes grounded
in early January, saying he wanted the planes paid off in cash or a
cashier's check.

By American standards, Rafael Rosado's business practices are unorthodox.
Customs forms show he regularly brought money to the United States for
parts and repairs. Rafael Rosado often paid in cash, leaving it with anyone
who was around, according to Zur.

"It's very unusual the way they do business, the brown paper bags, plastic
bags, newspaper," Zur testified.

He didn't believe it when Rosado said deputies seized the cash.

"I thought, 'It's another fantasy story,'" he said.

So did Brown, but he began investigating. Soon, he was convinced the Rosado
brothers weren't involved in anything illegal. Proving it would be another
matter.

Going To Court

The Rosado brothers lost the first round.

When police seize cash, they must first convince a judge there is probable
cause it was used or would be used illegally. Courts around the country and
in Florida have ruled that only a drug dog's alert on cash is not enough
proof of drug money.

Brown presented testimony in March that he hoped would stop the case.

Investigators found the Rosados had no criminal past. A sheriff's agent
told the judge about the search and Rosado's explanations.

"He stated over and over again that he was carrying $200,000 in U.S.
currency," Agent David Agronow said.

Rosado told officers he wasn't carrying drug money, that $50,000 was his
and $150,000 came from a man on a New York City street corner who was
working for a Dominican money exchanger. Zur testified about the debt.
Rafael Rosado told how he often paid suppliers in cash to avoid wire
transfer fees.

He said he and his brother were going to use the cash to buy a cousin's New
Jersey business, but the deal wasn't lucrative enough. When Zur grounded
the planes, Rafael Rosado testified he told his brother to bring the money
to Fort Lauderdale to pay up.

Palm Beach County Circuit Judge Edward Fine found probable cause for the
money to be seized.

Same Arguments

Jurors in the civil forfeiture trial heard much the same story.

The Rosados' father gave a statement that he sent the $150,000 through a
Dominican money exchanger.

The Sheriff's Office and Brown also brought in expert witnesses to talk
about how money gets contaminated by drugs.

The sheriff's expert said the drug dog, Maggie, would only alert to the
cash if it were recently around drugs. Brown's expert said almost all U.S.
currency is contaminated unless it's new. Jurors returned a mixed verdict
- -- finding that the money may have been involved in drugs but that the
Rosado brothers didn't know it.

Three jurors who listened to the evidence said they weren't convinced the
Rosados were in the drug trade.

"The prosecution, we felt, really didn't come forth with enough credible
evidence. They based their theory on the fact that the dog had alerted to
the currency," juror Mary Marder of West Palm Beach said.

Jurors also heard how cultural differences affect money transactions.

"It took me a day to have a paradigm shift that these people in their
country customarily deal with large sums of cash. We don't do that. If have
a $20 bill in my pocket, I feel rich," Marder said.

The Sheriff's Office decided not to appeal the forfeiture case. Sheriff's
attorney Robert Gelston declined to comment because of legal issues pending
in the civil case.

State financial regulators say prosecutors use the criminal charge as a
weapon against illegal money couriers.

"If somebody is carrying huge sums of cash, like $600,000, you
automatically suspect something," said Rick White of the Florida Division
of Securities and Finance.

Martz, the prosecutor, said Orlando Rosado was charged after a lengthy
review by investigators and prosecutors. The Palm Beach County State
Attorney's Office got a federal grant this year for a money-laundering task
force, he said.

"We are new to this. It's an area of law that we did not routinely address,
that we did not read, that we did not prosecute," he said. "We want to see
money launderers punished like other criminals.

He points to the civil jury's mixed verdict as telling.

"From that, I think they were thinking the same thing we are thinking, that
this is drug money," he said.