BY ANNE MICHAUD
The Cincinnati Enquirer
A lawsuit filed Wednesday in federal court alleges that Cincinnati police are stopping citizens, searching them and seizing their cash -- between $1,131 and $8,500 in the six instances detailed. Constitutional rights lawyer Scott Greenwood, who filed the complaint, also said Cincinnati police are reporting less money confiscated in almost every case than his clients remember.
He said it amounts to as much as a few hundred dollars each time. The lawsuit, which names nine individual officers and the city as defendants, asks a judge to order an end to the practice.
"We're seeking to stop cases where police have no reason to believe the money is related to criminal activity," Mr. Greenwood said. "This happens every single day in Cincinnati.
He said the seizures are especially common in Over-the-Rhine. In all but one of the cases in the lawsuit, police found a small amount of marijuana when they searched the person or his apartment or car.
State and federal drug forfeiture law allows police to seize cash and property in connection with drug crimes. Police must believe the cash or property is a tool of the crime, such as a car used to make drug deals or the fruit of illegal activity.
If the court approves the seizure, the county prosecutor and police split the money and keep it in a special account. It is supposed to be used to fight drug crime.
Karl Kadon, deputy city solicitor, said the city cannot immediately answer the charges in detail.
"We have to do our own investigating as to what happened, and we will form our own opinion as to propriety of the officers' conduct," he said. "Based on the complaint, I'm not folding my tents."
The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Cincinnati, seeks return of the money plus punitive damages. It also seeks class-action status, saying the issue affects several hundred people.
The practice violates constitutional protections against unreasonable search and seizure and self-incrimination, the lawsuit says; it also defies the right to due process.
Police should not question people about whether the cash was obtained through drug trade, said Mr. Greenwood, who is joined by lawyers Stephen and Edward Felson, brothers who make a sideline of tracking such cash seizures.
"People must either share private information or they get their money taken," Mr. Greenwood said. "Citizens cannot be deprived of their property without due process, but the city's practices make that a mockery."
He said there was no reason to believe, in these six cases, that the money was evidence of a crime.
Mr. Kadon said police were investigating crimes when each of the cases occurred.
He also argued that drug forfeitures are handled through the courts by the county prosecutor, "so there are a lot of checks and balances in the system. It's difficult to believe the judges, county prosecutor and police are all conspiring to keep some guy's $1,100." Stephen Felson said many people do not fight these forfeitures because they are handled in civil court, where defendants have no right to a court-appointed lawyer. So, it can cost them hundreds of dollars or more to sue for the return of their money.
In the remaining case not involving marijuana, Cincinnati Police Officer M. Scrafano stopped Robert B. Lane for riding his bicycle on a sidewalk. When Mr. Lane opened his wallet to show his identification, the suit says, the police officer saw some cash and confiscated $766.
Mr. Lane was also charged with resisting arrest. The incident occurred in October 1996, and the money has not been returned, the lawsuit says.
