South Carolina police don't need proof to seize and keep cash, cars or other valuables.

Errors by police and prosecutors are costing people their possessions or denying them a chance to even fight for money, vehicles or property seized under civil law.

The TAKEN investigation by The Greenville News and Anderson Independent Mail uncovered a litany of problems with a forfeiture system that puts power over personal property in the hands of cops and the state. And it plays out in civil proceedings where citizens aren’t provided an attorney or given the right to a speedy trial.

It's something Tonja Flythe-Harkless now knows well.

When Greenville sheriff’s deputies arrested her son David Green on drug trafficking charges in July 2017, they knew the truck he was driving belonged to his mother in Maryland. A deputy said in the incident report that her name was listed on the title as the registered owner.

That didn’t stop police from seizing the vehicle.

And when it came time to notify any interested parties in the forfeiture action, it's not clear the authorities tried to contact Flythe-Harkless. That’s despite her call to the Sheriff’s Office the day after her son’s arrest, or the two letters her son David wrote from jail telling authorities the truck belonged to his mom.

In December 2017, four months after the case was filed, prosecutors asked a judge to forfeit the 2006 Ford F-350 by default because no one had come forward to dispute the case. The judge denied the request. She had gone through the file and seen David's letters. She told prosecutors to set a hearing.

Still, no one sent Flythe-Harkless a summons until a Greenville News reporter met with 13th Circuit Solicitor Walt Wilkins on April 4 and asked about the case. The court summons was finally mailed to Flythe-Harkless the next day.

Her story is not rare.

The TAKEN investigation identified hundreds of instances where property owners never received notice of forfeiture cases — sometimes because serious errors were made by the prosecutors tracking them down.

In one Simpsonville case, the Solicitor’s Office sent a woman's summons to the wrong city.

Another time, in Georgetown, authorities said they couldn’t locate a man, who turned out to be incarcerated. State law requires agencies to check the prison system when they're notifying owners of a case.

In a Greenville case, an assistant solicitor said a company named as a defendant in a case couldn’t be found. A reporter reached the company after a Google search.

Notification errors we discovered pointed to a larger pattern uncovered after months of interviews and research: a lax system of oversight in South Carolina. We found fear among owners of confronting the police and numerous mistakes among law enforcement that compound the barriers to regaining property.

The result is that forfeiture overwhelmingly ends in the government’s favor.

More than 70 percent of forfeiture cases filed against individual property owners from 2014-2016 were won by default, the TAKEN investigation found.

That means the police never had to persuade a judge or jury about the merits of a claim.

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Going after the little guy

Widow fights off town's attempt to seize her home Ella Bromell: Conway forfeiture fight keeps her indoors now, fearful of losing her home. “I don’t want to go nowhere else.” Lauren Petracca, The Greenville News

Even carried out by the book, South Carolina’s forfeiture law can be deeply unfair, critics say. The system barely resembles the one used in the 1980s to take profits from drug kingpins and money launderers during the War on Drugs.

Instead of circling a few high-dollar cases, law enforcement agencies now target low-level offenders and seize the money they carry. A third of cash forfeitures in the state during our three-year research period, about 1,500, involved $500 or less in cash. This includes 645 people alone in Florence County and 288 people in Richland County.

Sometimes police seized $18 or $27 or $40.

That's a money- and time-wasting amount, say people familiar with the system. It costs prosecutors $150 to file a case, $25 to file a motion and still more to serve papers on property owners.

In some cases, there’s no war on drugs involved at all, because there is no crime. Because forfeiture proceedings address the property itself — claiming it was involved in suspicious activity, property owners aren't part of the case, except usually being named an interested party.

Nearly one-fifth of people who had their assets seized in South Carolina weren't charged with a related crime. Roughly the same number — nearly 800 people in three years — were charged but not convicted.

More: How we brought TAKEN to life

More: 5 things we learned from TAKEN's civil forfeiture investigation

The government doesn’t need winning proof to seize and keep cash, cars or other valuables. To win forfeiture in South Carolina, it just has to show that property is more likely than not connected to crime.

At times that means authorities try to seize homes just to discourage crime in the neighborhood. At least twice in recent years, agencies tried to seize widows' homes because they said the women didn’t do enough to stop drug sales taking place beyond their front stoop.

Rozina Javis, who is in her 80s, has lived in the same brick home near Columbia's Williams-Brice Stadium since 1964.

She's sheltered generations of her family under her roof, but she nearly lost her home when police said she failed to keep criminals off her lawn.

Columbia resident Rozina Javis kept her home despite attempts by authorities to seize it due to criminal activity nearby. MIKE ELLIS/Staff

David Wilson, then the Richland County sheriff’s chief deputy, wrote a letter to Javis, saying excessive criminal activity had occurred at her address. He cited 23 offenses over an eight-year period, including vandalism and murder. "Any further incidents involving illegal drugs/weapons at this property location will result in the immediate seizure of this property under State and Federal Forfeiture Laws," Wilson wrote.

Javis called Wilson and told him she was aware of illegal activities. She said she was able to stop it during the daytime but not after she went to bed at 9 p.m.

The Sheriff’s Department tried to seize the house, so she hired an attorney and successfully fought the forfeiture.

“That’s the bully approach," said Javis’ attorney, Byron Gipson. "You can harass or threaten. Why don’t you go fix the real problem?"

Unlike Javis, most people don't fight.

Hundreds each year — who aren't facing serious criminal charges — just choose to let their money or property go. The reasons are myriad but revolve around a common theme: powerlessness in the face of law enforcement and prosecutors.

More: 65% of cash seized by SC police comes from black men. Experts blame racism.

More: Isiah Kinloch grapples with aftermath of civil forfeiture

Deck stacked for police

Time and again, Greenville defense attorney Jake Erwin watches the same process play out: Clients will contact him because the police have taken their money, car or their TV set. They’re mad or confused. They claim they’re innocent, or they weren’t charged.

Someone has shown up at their door to deliver a summons and complaint. On the first page, it says they have 30 days to file an answer with the clerk of court. The clock starts. They have no idea what to do. Some do nothing.

From the very beginning of a forfeiture proceeding, the deck is stacked in favor of police, according to numerous defense attorneys across the state who spoke to The News over the course of several months.

They talked about a civil process they believe unfairly strains an inalienable right granted in the Fifth Amendment: that property cannot be taken without due process.

The venue where the forfeiture argument plays out offers the first challenge, the attorneys said. The entire matter, once it leaves the roadside or police encounter, is handled in civil court. This legal path is different from the course of almost every other action police take.“If the individual ... is poor, if they’re indigent ... you don’t get a lawyer appointed from the public defender’s office,” Erwin said. “You’re on your own.”

If they're unable to pay for an attorney, citizens sometimes can convince one to take the case for a cut if the money is returned, Erwin said. That guarantees owners will never get all their money back because, at a minimum, they will owe the lawyer part of it.

That’s what happened to Greenville resident Ryan Hamer when police seized $6,000 in money orders he was trying to mail to a friend in need on the West Coast. Hamer wasn’t charged with any crime. He could prove the money was his, and the Greenville Police Department returned it within six weeks. Still, he had to pay $1,200 for legal help.

Hamer initially thought about letting police have his money — thousands of dollars they had no right to keep. “I almost went that route just because I didn’t want to cause myself any problems,” he said. “I was worried about harassment.”

TAKEN from the mail: Ryan Hamer's money goes missing He sent money to a friend in need. But it never got there. Lauren Petracca, The Greenville News

Figuring out the system on their own

Since police increasingly target lower-level offenders for civil forfeiture, they often seize smaller amounts of money: a few hundred dollars from a wallet, tips from pizza deliveries, a gift from a grandparent to buy a car or money from a recently cashed paycheck.

If they don’t have enough money to hire an attorney, some people try to navigate the legal process themselves.

In a four-page handwritten answer filed in July 2016, Bryant Bennett represented himself, laying out the reasons he believed his money should be returned. Among them, the Charleston man said the $560 was money from his disability check and not tied to drugs. He wrote in the filing's closing: I "ask this honorable court to dismiss Plaintiff’s Complaint for Forfeiture, and issue an order for the Plaintiff to return the said U.S. currency to defendant. IT IS EVER SO PRAYED!!!”

In another case, the defendant wrote his answer by hand from prison.

Neither man’s attempt to get money returned was successful.

Keith Diggs, an attorney with the legal group Institute for Justice, which represents clients and advocates for civil forfeiture reform, said counties or states typically use a prosecutor who’s skilled in forfeiture. When pitted against a person filing pro se to represent themselves, “It’s rare that they have their claims taken seriously.”

Keith Diggs, Institute for Justice attorney “Civil forfeiture subjects the property owner to an incredible maze of laws that is difficult to navigate without an attorney." Quote icon

In numerous South Carolina cases, a property owner would file an initial response in time but then miss a hearing or fail to provide an updated address if moving. Sometimes the government would send notices to the wrong address or cancel hearings at the last minute. If the owner misses a court date, the government prevails, but if the owner shows up, the government often postpones, Diggs said.

“Civil forfeiture subjects the property owner to an incredible maze of laws that is difficult to navigate without an attorney,” he said.

Months or years waiting for government’s move

The state’s forfeiture statute says the government must file motions to forfeit property within a “reasonable amount of time.”

State law sets that time as two years.

The TAKEN analysis found more than 100 examples in which prosecutors seemingly flouted that law, sometimes holding cases for years beyond the mandatory deadline for action.

Sometimes, the delays are from police departments cleaning out evidence rooms after years failing to keep pace. Other times, it’s law enforcement officers filing to keep assets they deem “abandoned.”

But many other times, it’s simply a failure to pursue forfeiture in the two-year time frame. If no one disputes the case, authorities still get to keep the assets rather than sending them to a clearinghouse like the Office of the State Treasurer, which maintains unclaimed property.

Law enforcement agencies have no legal leg to stand on once their delayed cases are contested, said Lawrence Crane, a defense attorney who’s successfully fought against forfeiture on those grounds. “Basically, they’re taking the money that they’re not entitled to anyway,” Crane said.

In some ways, it’s a hidden trigger, a get-your-assets-back card that most people are unaware exists.

Graphic: Karl Gelles/USA TODAY

Christopher Lewis, a Simpsonville man whose money was seized by the Greenville Police Department in 2010 over a simple drug possession charge, was one of the few who did take advantage of this hidden trigger when he found out years later that the state hadn’t filed in time to keep his money.

When Lewis was finally served notice of his case in 2016, he did the one thing he needed to do in order to get his money returned: he responded.

“I was unaware that it was possible to have the money returned to me,” he wrote, saying the money seized was a combination of tip money and his paycheck from delivering pizzas.

Six years after his money was taken, he received a check for $427.

But his example is rare.

“They get away with it a lot,” Crane said, because most of the time property owners don’t fight back.

Even when the state works within the timeline allowed, critics say there’s no reason why most cases need to languish for months before they’re filed.

Petition cases — where prosecutors request, or petition, to forfeit property — take an average of 17 months to resolve from the date assets are seized, an analysis by The Greenville News shows. In many of those cases, the money or property has been in police custody for more than a year.

Spartanburg County Sheriff Chuck Wright, a leading proponent of forfeiture in the state, said the delays are because the cases aren’t as serious as others on the solicitor’s docket.

“It’ll sit there sometimes for a year because (the solicitor) has a lot of cases he has to deal with,” Wright said. “It’s hard for me to say, ‘Please put these in front of the murders.’”

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As the TAKEN project team dug even more deeply into the forfeiture court process in South Carolina, we eventually uncovered cases that weren't cases. Legal seizure but no standard paper trail in a court of law. Read about it in "Forfeiture proceedings hidden," below.

Forfeiture proceedings hidden, never filed

At least two judicial circuits in South Carolina have for years used an uncommon practice hidden from public scrutiny to process and record certain police seizures totaling hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Even more circuits may be doing the same.

If you want to find out how often York County law enforcement seized money from citizens with their “consent,” you can’t. There are no cases on file.

Even within a troubled and under-scrutinized civil asset forfeiture system, this effort to collect money outside the public view is an irregular practice in South Carolina. It was uncovered during the TAKEN project by The Greenville News.

Legally, these cash grabs may not have to be filed in court, though most prosecutors do file them for transparency. The money was “given” to police by owners who signed waivers saying they wouldn't fight to get their property back.

Citizens give up their rights to their cash or property all the time. It happens for a few reasons: they’re scared, and they think they’ve done something illegal. They don’t want the hassle of fighting it in court. They think the forfeiture will help their criminal case or get their sentence reduced.

Consent is generally a simple process; usually a single document disclaiming ownership of the property. It’s signed by the owner on the side of the road, or sometimes later by the owner's attorney, and by the prosecutor and the officer. At some point the paperwork is filed with the circuit court and signed off by a judge.

But in at least two circuits — the 10th Judicial Circuit in Anderson and Oconee counties and the 16th Judicial Circuit, which includes York and Union counties — solicitors never file the consent forfeiture.

Instead, in the 16th Circuit, officers convince a person to sign a pre-written document, which is taken to the solicitor and to a judge for approval. Once it’s approved, the Solicitor's Office just holds onto the document.

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Show caption Hide caption Forfeiture proceedings aren't assigned case numbers or even filed in the state's court system in some jurisdictions, the TAKEN investigation has found. Here, cases are... Forfeiture proceedings aren't assigned case numbers or even filed in the state's court system in some jurisdictions, the TAKEN investigation has found. Here, cases are simply stored in an out-of-the-way file cabinet at the Anderson County Courthouse. MIKE ELLIS/Staff

David Wagner, the solicitor in Anderson and Oconee counties, said his office has a similar system. In Oconee, the consent cases are kept at the solicitor’s office. In Anderson, they're stored in a file cabinet at the courthouse. And they stay there.

The forfeiture proceedings aren't assigned case numbers, and they're never filed as a public record where anyone can view them, the TAKEN investigation has found.

The practice isn’t transparent, said S.C. Press Association director Bill Rogers, after being made aware of what was going on. Having access to these records is vital for the public to track how public agencies operate, he said.

If the public can’t readily access this information, taxpayers are unable to see how often police seize assets from people, who those people are or how much is being seized. Filing cases at the courthouse would provide a check on police so they don’t abuse their civil forfeiture power and seize money for the purpose of bulking up their budgets.

It's probably legal. A spokesman for the state Attorney General’s Office said the consent form is likely all that’s required under current state law.

The forms are still public records and could be examined by visiting a solicitor’s office and searching through filing cabinets to locate and organize hundreds of forms: a daunting task.

Asked how difficult it would be to fulfill a public records request for all 2014-2016 consent cases, a prosecutor said it would be extremely time-consuming and cumbersome to locate the paper records.

Stephanie Looper, an assistant solicitor over asset forfeiture in Anderson and Oconee, said — following the TAKEN investigative reporting effort — that prosecutors will start filing consent waivers in court to be more transparent.

When forfeiture cases aren’t filed, the public record doesn’t reflect the actual amount of money seized by law enforcement. Between 2014-2016, court records show South Carolina police seized more than $17 million from citizens using the state’s civil forfeiture law. It’s likely millions more than is recorded.

For example, court records examined by The Greenville News show the York County Multijurisdictional Drug Enforcement Unit seized $135,000 in cash from 133 people over the TAKEN three-year study period. Of that, $119,000, or 88 percent, was forfeited to law enforcement. The rest was returned.

SC police seize millions through civil forfeiture: TAKEN Many of the people in SC who lose cash, property through forfeiture are never arrested or convicted of wrongdoing, our investigative project found. Josh Morgan, Greenville News

York DEU Commander Marvin Brown said the amount forfeited was actually closer to $800,000 because 85-90 percent of their forfeiture cases never go in the court system.

The only time York DEU cases are filed is when owners contest and fight to get their money back in court, Brown said.

Leslie Robinson, an assistant solicitor in York County, said prosecutors tried filing consent cases a few years ago, but the York County Clerk of Court's office sent them back.

Wagner, the solicitor in Anderson County, said he didn’t know of a way to track how much cash or property has been forfeited to law enforcement over the years, other than meticulously searching each record by hand.

Robert Bruce, York defense attorney “If someone had property from legal means, truly no connection to drugs ... they sign this under the stress of being arrested and they don’t process what they’re doing." Quote icon

More: Trail of targets shows breadth of lives changed by forfeiture

Robert Bruce, a York defense attorney, knows these consent forms well — he’s had clients who signed them — and he has one big concern: that people who have no connection to drugs are being coerced into waiving their property rights.

“If someone had property from legal means, truly no connection to drugs ... they sign this under the stress of being arrested and they don’t process what they’re doing,” Bruce said.

It becomes exponentially more difficult for people to get their money back once they sign away their consent, he said. “At that point, there’s not a lot I can do,” he said.

There may be even more forfeiture cases tucked away from public scrutiny in other parts of the state. No consent cases were recorded in the Fourth Circuit, which covers Chesterfield, Marlboro, Darlington and Dillon counties, or the 15th Circuit, which covers Horry and Georgetown counties.

Fourth Circuit Solicitor Will Rogers said his offices rarely pursue forfeiture cases and prefer to hand them over to the federal government, which splits profits with local agencies.

An Horry County employee said they don't file consent cases and instead store them at the solicitor's office. She didn’t know how many cases they’d processed like that.

Four other counties — Edgefield, Saluda, Fairfield and Williamsburg — had no forfeiture cases on file at all.

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Have you lost property through civil forfeiture? Or do you have information about the practice we should know? We'd like to hear about it. Or about any investigative tips we could work on. Contact our reporters at taken@greenvilleonline.com.