williamson county seizes nearly $300k after pulling over car for "following too closely"

[justhookit 4191]

So some of y’all think he made 294,000 in cash since oct.15th ( or in 3 months according to him). Come the fuck on. I’m white and from a wealthy family and this is EXACTLY what would happen if I got stopped with hidden cash in my car.

[Texas_Rocks 347]

This stop was probably not as random as the police would like the usual stooges to believe.

[TwiceHorn 31536]

Yeah, I have no doubt that he was profiled to an absolute T.  If he hadn't consented to the search, I wonder if they would have had enough to obtain a warrant or if they would have even tried (and risk their surveillance techniques, which are probably objectionable on multiple grounds).

And, I have little doubt Wilco will find some way to fuck this up and make it a traveshamockery of civil rights.  But thus far it seems ok.

[blacklab 11951]

Just now, TwiceHorn said:

Yeah, I have no doubt that he was profiled to an absolute T.  If he hadn't consented to the search, I wonder if they would have had enough to obtain a warrant or if they would have even tried (and risk their surveillance techniques, which are probably objectionable on multiple grounds).

If he didn't consent the drug dog would have been brought out and would have gotten a "hit" on the car, allowing them to search.

[achooloco 1086]

11 hours ago, justhookit said:

So some of y’all think he made 294,000 in cash since oct.15th ( or in 3 months according to him). Come the fuck on. I’m white and from a wealthy family and this is EXACTLY what would happen if I got stopped with hidden cash in my car.

Obviously this poster hasn’t understood the two main points made in this thread...

[Updawg 2286]

I think they have dogs trained to sniff money so he couldn't refuse and get out of it..I saw a live PD episode or something like that that showed the shop Wilco takes the cars. They definitely had a big operation and this bust is pretty normal for them. They are doing plenty of business on I35

[scottsins 1969]

This isn't civil asset forfeiture.  He's been charged with a crime directly stemming from the possession of large amounts of cash under suspicious circumstances.
He consented to the search.
Presumably if he is acquitted, the cash will be returned.
Now, there may be something else brewing here, but based on the reports, this is pretty legit.

It is very common for the DA’s Civil Division to file an action for forfeiture while there is a case pending. I have seen it frequently in drug cases.

Oh, the cool part...I get appointed rep an alleged felon. DA files forfeiture. The scope of my appointment doesn’t include the civil case, so they often get to just roll pro se in the litigation.

Don’t forget the use of the criminal case as leverage to get an agreement to forfeit. Also fun.

[Hate 20145]

On 10/28/2019 at 3:16 PM, RDCanecutter said:

While researching a fiction novel I have had occasion to wonder about which ways to move various objects north or south across the border.

I seldom got searched going into Mexico, but it has happened. And they always have a few cars pulled over right there at the bridge, with the Mexican law going through them. Dude had to have known that.

I've had my luggage checked going through the Nuevo Laredo bus station.  I've also had my car stopped and searched about 20 miles from the border on the way back to the US.  Assholes pretty much dumped all of our luggage on the ground next to the road. 

Edited October 31, 2019 by Hate

[Onboard 2.0 9083]

1 hour ago, Hate said:

I've had my luggage checked going through the Nuevo Laredo bus station.  I've also had my car stopped and searched about 20 miles from the border on the way back to the US.  Assholes pretty much dumped all of our luggage on the ground next to the road. 

Never put a dead head sticker on your car.  That's what they call a "tell".

[Fuck Tim Beck 3834]

On 10/29/2019 at 11:55 AM, blacklab said:

If he didn't consent the drug dog would have been brought out and would have gotten a "hit" on the car, allowing them to search.

This. Nowadays with the way these cops operate as military forces, I wonder how many dogs are trained to smell drugs, and how many are just trained

to "alert" on command. The cops have already profiled the citizen before the stop. And on the off chance they don't find anything, hey officer dickhead

got to trash your car with no repercussions.

[Steel Shank 9432]

"Failure to signal lane change", "following too closely", etc. They pull over whoever they want.

[blacklab 11951]

Question for the lawyers. If he had a dash cam that showed he wasn't following too close to anyone, could he get all the charges dropped as fruit from a poisoned tree? 

[Helobious 9464]

On 10/28/2019 at 6:38 PM, Pato del Muerto said:

These cartels and whatnot really ought to make an effort to have white people be the mules. Would cut down on the “there’s a couple a messicans in a nice suv, we better pull em over” stops. 

They already do. Cartels will pay a premium for Americans or mexican gueros to drive drugs/weapons/people over. White is best but plenty of blacks get recruited too, they'll take anyone that doesn't look hispanic. They usually find dudes as part of deals with american prison and street gangs. The guy driving that big rig that all the migrants died in was black. 

[TwiceHorn 31536]

3 hours ago, scottsins said:

 

It is very common for the DA’s Civil Division to file an action for forfeiture while there is a case pending. I have seen it frequently in drug cases.

Oh, the cool part...I get appointed rep an alleged felon. DA files forfeiture. The scope of my appointment doesn’t include the civil case, so they often get to just roll pro se in the litigation.

Don’t forget the use of the criminal case as leverage to get an agreement to forfeit. Also fun.

 

Yeah, I figured it might be in the works.  Nonetheless, if these kind of cases made up all CAF, it would be less of a problem than it is.

[TwiceHorn 31536]

8 minutes ago, blacklab said:

Question for the lawyers. If he had a dash cam that showed he wasn't following too close to anyone, could he get all the charges dropped as fruit from a poisoned tree? 

Very likely yes.

[High Plains Drifter 11052]

14 hours ago, Hate said:

I've had my luggage checked going through the Nuevo Laredo bus station.  I've also had my car stopped and searched about 20 miles from the border on the way back to the US.  Assholes pretty much dumped all of our luggage on the ground next to the road. 

 

I was moving from the RGV to further north. At the Falfurrias BP checkpoint, they pretty much made me unload about half the shit in the moving truck. Then I got to load it back up, no help, in the S. Texas heat and humidity (This occurred in Sept.).  While I was re-loading, there were two National guardsmen standing around in the shade of the building. I asked them what they were doing. They replied "helping the Border Patrol."

They continued to stand around while I reloaded.

 

This happened again about 6 hours later at another checkpoint on I-90 around Langtry, or where ever it was. At this point, I was actively rooting for the terrorists.

[Dewey 3293]

Odds they cant prove anything, keep the money and tell him to keep out of Wilco?

[High Plains Drifter 11052]

Back to the thread. I have no doubt this guy was doing some shady drug or gang related shit. But the worse "crime" here is that cops can stop and arrest anyone for carrying cash, and seize the cash.

[Pato del Muerto 52600]

if the guy is found to be making money illegally, can they then take everything this guy owns, as ill gotten gains?

[pops 7006]

15 hours ago, Onboard 2.0 said:

Never put a dead head sticker on your car.  That's what they call a "tell".

Don't look back. Don't ever look back. 

[TwiceHorn 31536]

1 hour ago, Pato del Muerto said:

if the guy is found to be making money illegally, can they then take everything this guy owns, as ill gotten gains?

If he is convicted, basically anything that they can connect to the illegal activity, yes.  That presents some of its own issues, but it's not as obnoxious as civil asset forfeiture.

[NeverMarryAStripper 21921]

I like how they gave it such a euphemism.  Civil asset forfeiture makes it sound like they are pleasantly asking you for your money and in turn you voluntarily give it to them.  Let's just call it what it is government theft. 

[Onboard 2.0 9083]

26 minutes ago, pops said:

Don't look back. Don't ever look back. 

Oh yeah, you can never look back.