SYRACUSE, N.Y. – Justin Lucas gathered up $50,000 in cash in 2011 to bail his brother out of jail on a drug charge.

But when Lucas brought the money to the Otsego County jail in a brown paper bag, sheriff's deputies seized the cash without releasing his brother. They told him the money was the subject of a drug investigation.

Lucas' brother eventually pleaded guilty to a felony marijuana possession charge. But even with the case over, Lucas couldn't get his money back. The sheriff's office had already used a federal law to force him to forfeit the money to the government.