Christina Spicer  |  May 6, 2014

Category: Consumer News

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Sheriff K-9 UnitA class action lawsuit has been filed against the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Department, accusing the deputies in that county of illegally seizing cash from motorists along the I-80 highway near Winnemucca, Nevada.

Lead plaintiff Trevor Paine alleges in the class action lawsuit that in November 2013 he was pulled over for speeding on I-80 by a deputy from the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Department. Paine alleges the deputy was joined by a canine unit that had a “hit” on his car and proceeded to search the vehicle without Paine’s consent.

According to the Humboldt County Sheriff class action lawsuit, deputies “told Paine that if he (Paine) protested the seizure of the $11,000.00 in U.S. Currency from the lock box in his vehicle, his car would be seized and impounded; otherwise, he could sign a document by which he would abandon the money and be permitted to leave in his vehicle. Believing there was nothing he could do about the conduct of [the deputies], Paine had no choice but to choose the option that allowed him to leave, and signed and received a receipt for several stacks or wads of ‘uncounted’ cash.”

The class action lawsuit continues, “At no time did [the deputy] have any legal basis for taking the $11,000.00 in U.S. Currency from the lock box in Paine’s vehicle; [the] seizure of the Paine’s money was without cause and unlawful.”

Paine claims that Humboldt deputies did not find drugs or any other illegal items, however, they found $11,000 cash in Paine’s lockbox located in the vehicle. After the cash was seized by the Humboldt Sheriff’s Department, Paine alleges he was given a warning for going 84 mph in the 75 mph speed limit zone. According to the class action lawsuit, the Humboldt Sheriff’s Department never returned the cash.

Paine seeks to represent others who were pulled over and whose cash was seized by the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Department. “The class that Paine seeks to represent is composed of and defined as all persons who have been stopped and had money and/or property seized and taken from them by any law enforcement officer employed by the Humboldt County Sheriffs Department within the applicable statute of limitations period” states the class action lawsuit. In his complaint, Paine brings claims against Humboldt for conversion, claim and delivery, and unconstitutional search and seizure.

The practice, a “drug interdiction,” is the seizure of drug related items, including cash, while in transit, and is the reason the Humboldt Sheriff’s Department gives for the cash seizures. Humboldt County recently settled with several other motorists who had their cash seized during a routine traffic stop along I-80.

“You got to differentiate between the drug trafficker and the guy who, you know, is going to gamble or likes to carry cash or doesn’t trust banks or something,” Paine’s attorney, John Ohlson said in an interview with Law Vegas news station KLAS-TV. Ohlson also said the reasoning the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Department is using to defend the practice is wrong. “They sell weed in California,” Ohlson said, “[t]hese people were heading to California, therefore their intention was to buy weed” he continued, “[e]ven if that logic was true — which it’s not true — it doesn’t matter what your intention was.”

Plaintiffs are represented by John Ohlson of Ohlson Law in Reno, Nevada.

The Humboldt County Sheriff’s Dept. Cash Seizure Class Action Lawsuit is Paine v. Humboldt County, et. al., Case No. (not yet available) in the Sixth Judicial District Court of the State of Nevada in and for the County of Humboldt.

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One thought on Sheriff’s Dept. Hit with Class Action Lawsuit Over Freeway Cash Seizures

  1. Me says:

    I guess this means money is illegal. I hope the Koch brothers take note.

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