After reading my article Heuser contacted me to share his story.

The officer asked him why he was traveling, and at first seemed satisfied by his explanation. But he quickly changed his tone, began acting like he knew Heuser was guilty, and asked to search his room. Since Heuser had nothing to hide and felt intimidated a part of him wanted to comply. But as a fan of the ACLU and the son of hippie parents, he instead decided to assert his right to be free from unreasonable searches.

The DEA agent pressed the matter.

“After that he asked if he could bring a dog into my room to check out the bags, to which I again said ‘no,’” said Heuser, who hasn’t passed the bar but knows a little bit about Fourth Amendment law. “Finally he told me that he was going to bring a dog, walk it by my room, and that if alerted, my room would be searched. He told me that I could not argue this and that I was not allowed to be present for the search. His reasoning for violating my right to be present was that the dog might bite me.”

Forced to leave his room, he walked toward the dining car. En route another DEA agent tried to get him to step off the train where other law-enforcement officers were gathered. Heuser worried that if he got off the train they might not allow him back on before it left. “I asked if I was under arrest, and if I were free to go, then started walking to the dining car,” Heuser said. “The officer followed me, telling me that they know I am transporting drugs, and if I have any for personal use, they do not care, and it would be easier if I just told them. I said that was nice to know, then kept walking.”

Then a DEA agent lied in an attempt to gain permission to search the room.

“He told me that his partner could tell someone was hiding in my bathroom and wanted to check if anyone was in there,” Heuser recalls. “I told them that no police are allowed to enter, but if the conductor wants to enter and let them know that there is no one in the bathroom, it would be okay.” Minutes later, while Heuser was on his way back to his room, a DEA agent looked him in the eye and said, "You Oregonians may think that the green leafy stuff is harmless, but I know from my job that it kills people every day."

Finally Heuser stepped back into his room.

“I found my backpack moved and open, and my wallet, which was set down on the room table, had $60 missing,” he said. “I told one of the dining car attendants that I felt Amtrak and the DEA violated my rights. She told me that Amtrak is forced to give passenger info to Feds, that the DEA comes on every trip, usually arresting someone in the sleeping car or taking all their money. When I asked for her name in case I needed it later she refused and told me Amtrak would fire her.”

One needn’t rely on her hearsay.

Last year, the Associated Press reported that the DEA “paid an Amtrak secretary $854,460 over nearly 20 years to obtain confidential information about train passengers, which the DEA could have lawfully obtained for free through a law enforcement network.” (This was reportedly done so that the DEA could avoid sharing seized assets with Amtrak police, which hints at how lucrative such seizures are.)