Imagine you own a million-dollar piece of property free and clear,
but then the federal government and local law enforcement agents
announce that they are going to take it from you, not compensate you one
dime, and then use the money they get from selling your land to pad
their budgets—all this even though you have never so much as been
accused of a crime, let alone convicted of one.
That is the nightmare Russ Caswell and his family is now facing in
Tewksbury, Mass., where they stand to lose the family-operated motel
they have owned for two generations.
Seeking to circumvent state law and cash in on the profits, the
Tewksbury Police Department is working with the U.S. Department of
Justice to take and sell the Caswells property because a tiny fraction
of people who have stayed at the Motel Caswell during the past 20 years
have been arrested for crimes. Keep in mind, the Caswells themselves
have worked closely with law enforcement officials to prevent and report
crime on their property. And the arrests the government complains of
represent less than .0005 percent of the 125,000 rooms the Caswells have
rented over that period of time.
Despite all this, the Caswells stand to lose literally everything
they have worked for because of this effort by federal and local law
enforcement officials not to pursue justice, but rather to police for
profit.
How widespread is the problem of civil forfeiture abuse nationwide?
In 1986, the year after the U.S. Department of Justice’s Asset
Forfeiture Fund was created—the fund that holds the forfeiture proceeds
from properties forfeited under federal law and available to be paid out
to law enforcement agencies—took in just $93.7 million. Today it holds
more than $1.6 billion.
The Institute for Justice, a national public interest law firm that
fights civil forfeiture abuse nationwide, is now representing the
Caswells in defense of their property and their constitutional rights.
-The Institute for Justice
