Brad Zinn

bzinn@newsleader.com

It's a game of cat and mouse, one that pits the police against drug dealers.

And though this long-running contest seems unlikely to ever end, there are some key rewards along the way for the men and women in blue.

In 2013, area authorities took in more than $68,000 in seized cash and property from convicted and suspected drug dealers.

Most of the proceeds get recycled back into the local police departments, providing new equipment, more "buy" money for drug informants or even a police weightlifting room.

"One year, I outfitted the department with Tasers," said Staunton Police Chief Jim Williams. "It can be kind of a cash cow."

Since 1991, the year after Virginia voters adopted laws to allow local police departments to take advantage of property and money seizures connected to illegal narcotics, $73.8 million in seized assets have been dispersed to Virginia police agencies, according to the Virginia Department of Criminal Justice Services.

Some years are better than others for area police departments, especially when the occasional house is forfeited by a drug dealer. Regardless, thanks to America's nearly insatiable appetite for illegal drugs, the money stream is constantly flowing, and some of those tributaries of green drift straight into police coffers.

Seizures

Sgt. Josh Sholes of the Augusta County Sheriff's Office is a member of the region's drug task force. Sholes has worked in narcotics since 1995, and has probably been involved in more drug deals and seizures than he cares to remember. Many of the busts have a familiar ring.

When caught dead to rights, Sholes said, dealers usually are forthcoming about drugs or weapons hidden inside a house or stuffed somewhere in a vehicle. But when questioned about the whereabouts of any cash, he said, suspects tend to get a sudden case of amnesia.

"Because that's what's most important to them," Sholes said during a recent interview.

Sholes said the money trail is typically easy enough to track, be it in bank accounts, ledgers or familiar hiding spots. In a 2002 Crimora raid that netted 10 pounds of methamphetamine — at the time the biggest meth bust in Virginia's history — $138,000 in cash was confiscated, much of it haphazardly spread across the floor of the suspect's home.

Police officers who were at the scene said they were literally walking on money.

More times than not, drug money is hidden near or in a bedroom, Sholes said. Once, $50,000 was found inside a pillowcase. In another investigation, a plumber had to be called in when hidden cash and drugs had clogged a suspect's toilet.

Then there was a case where a vehicle was seized, along with a baby's car seat. A woman contacted the sheriff's office several times about wanting to get the car seat back. Her persistence prompted investigators to take a closer look at the car seat. Inside, they found $14,000 in cash and "about a pound of cocaine," said Sheriff Randy Fisher.

Sometimes, the amount of money found by authorities tends to surprise even the suspects. "I think they literally forget how much they have," added Cpl. Todd Lloyd, also part of the drug task force.

But cash isn't the only thing drug agents are looking for. Prior to raiding a home, Sholes said agents will hitch a trailer to a police vehicle in anticipation of seizing assets that were illegally gained through the drug trade.

"We've taken riding lawnmowers, wood chippers, splitters, RVs, boats," Sholes said.

"It adds up," Lloyd said.

In a 2009, authorities carted away 27 vehicles from a Verona meth dealer, vehicles mostly given to him by drug users to satisfy debts. Almost $170,000 in cash also was confiscated.

Even homes can be up for grabs, although it doesn't happen often. The last residence the Augusta County Sheriff's Office seized was several years ago.

Last year in Waynesboro, police seized almost $48,000 in cash and property. The bulk of that figure is an International Truck valued at roughly $21,000. Known as the "Manbulance," the truck was used by Derick Ackleson, owner of "Totally Naked Tattoos," who is facing drug charges in both Waynesboro and Augusta County after marijuana grow operations were discovered in those localities.

Capt. Mike Martin of the Waynesboro Police Department said evidence shows that Ackleson's truck, converted to perform mobile tattoos, was allegedly being used to transport marijuana.

"If it's used in a crime, then you seize it," Martin said.

Well, not always. What police won't take, the captain said, is a third-party vehicle used in the drug trade, such as a drug suspect who is driving his grandmother's car with her permission, but without her knowing it is actually being used to commit a crime.

Cash, though, can quickly come under suspicion.

Two weeks ago, Waynesboro police got $3,700 from one drug suspect and another $1,078 from a second suspect in a related case. With a witness watching, the $4,778 was counted by a police officer, sealed and placed into evidence.

That could eventually replace most of the money recently spent on new training equipment, also bought with past drug money seized by Waynesboro police.

"We spent just about $5,000 on a marksmanship training system," Martin said.

In fact, the entire Waynesboro Police Department's weight room was outfitted with proceeds from the seized assets of drug dealers.

However, Martin was quick to emphasize that cash and property are not the department's main priority when dealing with drug suspects.

"That's not what we're looking for," he said. "Our goal is the drugs, to get a charge."

Although the ill-gotten money can be hard to locate at times, uncovering the drugs is even tougher. "They're very small and very hard to find," Martin said of certain drugs such as meth, pills and crack cocaine.

Especially when the drugs are hidden in secret compartments. Martin said his department once came across a Folger's coffee can that had a second can — covered with coffee — on the inside that contained illegal pills. In another case, police seized a can of Liquid Wrench that had a secret, hollow container.

The confiscated drugs and related paraphernalia are eventually destroyed, usually by dumping them inside an incinerator at James Madison University.

The cash, of course, is kept.

Chief Jim Williams of the Staunton Police Department said of the drug money, "We spend it on all kinds of things."

The aforementioned Tasers, communications devices, body armor, computers, surveillance equipment and "buy" money for his department's drug informant network are just some of the uses for the money. Rarely, following a conviction, do drug suspects question the seizures in civil court, usually because they don't have the money to do so.

"A lot of these cases are not contested," Williams said.

But Williams warned his department can't count on the drug money every year, and said the seizures are not figured in as part of the yearly budget. In 2013, the Staunton Police Department only took in $4,549 in cash and property seizures. Comparatively, in 2010 the department received more than $63,000.

All in all, Williams said, "It's been good."

Tracking cash, property

Capt. Leslie Mitchell of the Staunton Police Department said once the money or property is seized from a drug suspect, she is notified and the tracking process immediately begins.

Mitchell fills out what is known as a 998 Asset Seizure Reporting Form, and she lists everything worth more than $500 that was taken by police. The suspect also is listed on the form, she said. The information then is sent to the state's Department of Criminal Justice Services.

All seized cash is placed inside a locked safe in the department's evidence room. "Currency is what we seize the most frequently," Mitchell said.

Just because police seized the cash, it doesn't mean immediate access, at least not until the case has been adjudicated in civil court and an order of forfeiture is received.

As an example, if $10,000 in cash was seized and eventually forfeited, then Mitchell would cut a check to the state for the full amount. The state would then take its 10 percent cut, the Staunton Commonwealth's Attorney's Office gets its cut, and the Staunton Police Department would get the remaining 80 percent.

The math is different when the Drug Task Force is involved, because it usually has drug agents from multiple jurisdictions, and sometimes federal agents as well, and all of the agencies get a slice of the pie.

"It's all divvied out," Mitchell said.

Sometimes the turnaround is swift. "Occasionally it's not," Mitchell said. "It could be several years."

To prevent a daunting mountain of paperwork, seizures of less than $500 are kept local and the state gets no paperwork, but Mitchell said the department still tracks them.

Jeff Gaines, Staunton's chief deputy Commonwealth's attorney, said the smaller seizures can be a nuisance, and said a suspect could in theory demand a civil jury trial over a small sum of cash. So why not give up the cash and be done with it?

"It just eats at us to give back drug money," Gaines said.

As a solution, Gaines said, he will approach defense attorneys and offer to have the smaller disputed funds go toward the defendant's court costs instead. That way, police don't get miffed at the prosecutor's office for releasing drug money, the state gets some funds and the defendants' money — while not actually reaching their palm — gets put to good use.

"A lot of defendants agree to that," Gaines said.

Unloading the merchandise

The seized cash is easy enough to divide; it's cash, after all. But what about the big items like ATVs, vehicles or even boats? At the Augusta County Sheriff's Office, periodic auctions are held in back in the impound lot.

Auctions are used by Waynesboro and Staunton authorities as well, except theirs are online at www.govdeals.com.

The company, created in 1999 and based in Montgomery, Ala., averages $175 million in sales per year, and deals with government surplus and seized items.

"We currently have 6,427 clients throughout the U.S. and Canada," said Molly Nations, a company spokeswoman. "Two hundred and two of those clients are in Virginia."

GovDeal charges the seller 7.5 percent on each sale.

Asked what kind of products the company will auction, Nations said, "It runs the gamut from kitchen equipment to million-dollar aircraft."

Sheriff Fisher said he prefers the live auctions. "We average one a year, maybe two sometimes," he said. "We have to do something with that stuff."

Fisher said the popular auctions can quickly disperse the property that accumulates at the sheriff's office, which includes seized items as well as unclaimed property.

"The public auction is the best way to do it," he said. "They take it out the door with them."

Trangressions

There have been numerous documented cases where police agencies in the U.S. have crossed the line. One of the most infamous is a settled class-action suit, pending court approval, against officials in Tenaha, Texas, and Shelby County, where it is estimated police seized $3 million between 2006 and 2008 in at least 140 cases, according to the American Civil Liberties Union.

The ACLU said police routinely pulled over motorists without legal justification and asked if they were carrying money, sometimes bringing in untrained drug dogs, and would then order motorists to sign over the cash to the city or face charges of money laundering or other serious crimes. In a Philadelphia case highlighted by The New Yorker magazine last summer, an elderly couple still is fighting the city's forfeiture proceedings against their home after their son reportedly sold $60 worth of marijuana in 2012 to a police informant from the front porch.

The above cases involved assets that were seized before the actual adjudication of any alleged criminal offenses. Locally, assets also are seized well in advance of the criminal trials.

The U.S. Department of Justice states on its website that the primary mission of its Asset Forfeiture Program is to enhance public safety and security. "This is accomplished by removing the proceeds of crime and other assets relied upon by criminals and their associates to perpetuate their criminal activity against our society. Asset forfeiture has the power to disrupt or dismantle criminal organizations that would continue to function if we only convicted and incarcerated specific individuals," the agency said.

Many times, at least when money is seized, drug suspects will argue it was gained legally, be it college tuition, money earned from a job, an inheritance or, especially this time of year, a tax return.

Capt. Martin said he has no qualms about seizing the cash.

"I'm supremely confident we have not taken an honest man's money," he said.

Augusta Sheriff's Office seizures (state and federal allocations)

2004 — $125,413

2005 — $69,144

2006 — $30,994

2007 — $10,379

2008 — $191,408

2009 — $89,643

2010 — $88,109

2011 — $67,434

2012 — $32,920

2013 — $15,493

Staunton Police Department seizures (state and federal allocations)

2004 — $43,726

2005 — $40,332

2006 — $31,813

2007 — $10,239

2008 — $27,976

2009 — $22,303

2010 — $63,377

2011 — $44,288

2012 — $15,706

2013 — $4,549

Waynesboro Police Department (state allocations)

2004 — $33,644

2005 — $3,489

2006 — $1,101

2007 — $34,336

2008 — $16,911

2009 — $12,407

2010 — $8,973

2011 — $6,758

2012 — $3,528

2013 — $47,822 (property and cash seizures only, not yet allocated)