This is a true story used to educate American citizens about Civil Asset Forfeiture law. This law, intended to be used to take the ill-gotten gains from real criminals, is also widely used by Local, State and Federal authorities to seize assets from people who are not criminals nor ever charged with a crime. Only in our forfeiture laws are property rights excluded from Constitutional protection. Not only is there no proof provision or innocent owner protection in the law, but our U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1996 that even though a property owner is innocent, their property can still be seized for forfeiture if it was used to facilitate a crime, because the charge is only against the property, not the owner. PART 1. Book Review, by Kathy Bergman Forfeiture Endangers American Rights Foundation http://www.fear.org PART 2. The book, U.S. v. Grandma, Charles Miller. PART 1. Book Review In October of 1989, Mary Miller's youngest son was indicted by a midwestern grand jury for trafficking in marijuana. Over the next four years, Mary was forced to pay, literally, for her son's crimes. Never charged with a crime herself, 75 years old Mary Miller had her $70,000 in cash, her home and several pieces of rental property seized by the federal government, because they believed she knew of her son's crimes. Her cash money, the government said, was not her life's savings as she claimed, but rather, the ill-gotten gains of Toby Miller's life of crime. In fact, she couldn't use the old dates on her cash for her own evidence because the FBI had destroyed it by depositing it into a bank, thus comingling her money with other depositors' cash money. Her real estate, the government went on to reason, was used to "facilitate" Toby's crimes when he lived as a tenant in Mary's duplex, and therefore should be forfeited also. From October 1989 through August 1995, 122 newspaper headlines in a small midwestern city focused on Mary Miller's troubles. Her oldest son, Charles, attempted to regain his mother's property by producing an accurate chronologic record detailing the facts surrounding Mary Miller's forfeitures. That eventually led to this book he titled U.S. v. Grandma. PART 2. The Book UNITED STATES v. GRANDMA by, Charles Miller Tidbits "Now they want to take everything your mother has and make her tell what she knows about your brother -- maybe make him come back, too." Television, 15-20 law enforcement personnel from the FBI, IRS, Justice Department, U.S. Marshall's Service, County Sheriff's Department, and the Local Police Department, swarmed in to seize her home and other real estate without any notice or hearing. "Mary was not part of her son's marijuana ring conspiracy!" "Where am I supposed to go?" mom asked. "I don't care where you go Mary, but you have half an hour to pack up and get out!" "Tell us about Toby, where is Toby?" "...for six pieces of silver" ...mom was in a trance. "He said he isn't doing anything wrong. I want my son near me, is there anything wrong with that?" "Now they're looking at taking your 85 year old aunt's house because your brother paid for some porch repairs on it." "If you say anything, Mom... see this derringer and brass knuckles? And tomorrow I'll go out to work and kill Charles and everybody." "When I first took this case to my boss he said not to even mess around with it, that it was just another stupid marijuana case -- until I showed them how many assets we could get." (FBI Agent) "They are doing this all across the Country to people not charged with any crime, who were not drug dealers, or part of any drug ring conspiracy." (National Association of Criminal Defense Attorneys) "I hope you're not mad at me, Charles, it wouldn't have been my style (to barge in on your mom like that)." (Justice Dept. official) "What may have deserved a $5,000 fine is one thing, but to totally ruin people who wouldn't know dope from silly putty is another." "Why did you deny in the depositions the old dates on mom's cash?" "So what, we gave part of it back didn't we?" (Sheriff's Dept) "How much harm you did to others is impossible to assess." (Federal Judge Ferras to my brother at his sentencing in 1993) After a Supreme Court ruling favorable to civil forfeiture reform, in a newsletter from the Justice Department, the asset forfeiture director told federal prosecutors not to worry about any victories for civil forfeiture reform as the ever-creative Justice Department would find a way to get around the recent Supreme Court rulings. Forward In the early 1970s, our dad predicted, "Someday your mother will spend every dime she has to try and keep your brother out of jail." In 1989 my brother was indicted by a federal grand jury for selling marijuana. He fled town, leaving mom to answer questions for him to the FBI and soon in terror for herself. Through my brother's deceptive nature and his and my mother's life- long co-dependency, several generations of excellence and hard work were put at risk. As if it wasn't frustrating enough trying to put an honorable bottom under the quagmire mom was in, the War On Drugs feeding frenzy accentuated our public, personal and financial toll. The civil seizure and forfeiture laws in this Country put the burden of proof on the accused. Instead of being used to seize property from real drug dealers, the laws are used to seize property from citizens not charged with any crime, and the government does NOT have to prove you are guilty. Until the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1993 that the Constitution affords citizens the right to a meaningful hearing before seizure can take place, the government had been seizing properties throughout the United States, without any notice at all. They still do NOT have to prove anything, and the ruling requiring a pre-seizure hearing does not apply to cash. Reports started pouring in that this law was being used by imaginative federal prosecutors to raise funds for departmental use, and sometimes shared with local law enforcement. What was intended as a tool to use against drug dealers turned into seizing property from citizens who, according only to probable cause, NOT proof, willfully allowed such conduct on their premises. My mother became an unwitting victim of this barbaric law, and all of the following is what took place. Introduction This was originally a shorter summary, organized from individual disk files I started in 1989 on Operation Asset when I realized the case was turning into much more than I expected. It was my intention to keep a diary of the events surrounding my brother's indictment and the subsequent seizure of my mother's property, as a means to keep everything straight in my mind. Later, it was suggested to me by an organization who is helping to influence congressional change in the law (to proof of guilt) that I should tell more of the story. I have changed all the names of people involved, but the account is accurate. Each event herein they was entered as soon after it occurred as possible, often on a nightly basis. I began doing this for my own record, and eventually, mom's attorney said to continue documenting everything for him. I ask my family to please keep everything together and responsibly held. The main purpose of this summary is to help eliminate future confusion from handed-down family stories that are never retold the same way twice. Everything is in a large, labeled box that contains: (1) Computer program disk, data disk and backup disk. (2) All 122 news articles on Asset on disk, the newspapers themselves, and other disk files. (3) Some investigation reports: Sheriff, FBI, IRS. (4) Depositions taken by Nick Raymond, Mary Miller's attorney, from Mary Miller, Captain Rob Thomas of the Sheriff's Dept., and Jack Davis, FBI. (5) The FBI's brief, had Mary Miller's forfeiture case gone to court. (6) Letters I wrote to the FBI and Mary's (mom's) attorney. (7) My drawings and polaroid pictures for the judge to see the positioning of mom's three seized properties. (8) Broken safe handle from FBI Davis' attempt to open her safe. (9) Photo of lump-pile of $66,000 savings seized from her safe. The FBI agent destroyed this cash evidence of mom's. (10) A sketch I drew depicting the excessive raid on mom. Contents Introduction................................................... Forward........................................................ Chapter 1 What Was Operation Asset?....................... Chapter 2 My First Meeting With Two Investigators......... Chapter 3 Long Before Asset............................... Chapter 4 Advice To My Own Children....................... Chapter 5 Mom's First Meeting With Three Investigators.... Chapter 6 Search At 2020 Where Toby Lived................. Chapter 7 First Mention Of Seizing Mom's Properties....... Chapter 8 Abrupt Seizure Of Mom's Cash Savings............ Chapter 9 Shortly After Seizing Mom's Cash Savings........ Chapter 10 Mom's Spending Habits........................... Chapter 11 List Of Material Furnished To The Law........... Chapter 12 Sketch Of Properties Seized..................... Chapter 13 Mom's Personal Weekly Living Costs.............. Chapter 14 Rental Income (8) Producing Units............... Chapter 15 Miscellaneous Cash Saved........................ Chapter 16 Paychecks And Life Insurance Cashed............. Chapter 17 Doesn't Prove A Thing........................... Chapter 18 Abrupt Seizure Of Mom's Three Properties........ Chapter 19 Mom's Cash Evidence Destroyed By FBI Agent...... Chapter 20 Brass Knuckles And A Derringer.................. Chapter 21 Newspapers Question Use Of Seizure Law.......... Chapter 22 Points To Ponder................................ Chapter 23 News Media Coverage............................. Chapter 24 Effort To Get Back Mom's Assets................. Chapter 25 My Brother's Wife............................... Chapter 26 Mom............................................. Chapter 27 My Brother...................................... Chapter 28 Not Clearing Mom................................ Chapter 29 Getting Around The Supreme Court Ruling?........ Chapter 30 Cash............................................ Chapter 31 Telling My Mother's Story....................... Chapter 32 Some Final Thoughts............................. Chapter 33 122 Newspaper Articles.......................... CHAPTER 1 WHAT WAS OPERATION ASSET? Operation Asset was the name of an 1989 FBI case in which my younger brother, Toby Miller, 46, pleaded guilty January 5, 1993, and was sentenced to 25 years in a medium security federal prison for selling marijuana since around 1975, and for filing false federal income tax returns from 1985 through 1987. Many others were involved in the drug ring which stretched from Arizona into the Midwest, but this summary is about Toby's demise and the uneasy, if not unlawful, situation our mother was in. Toby was pegged by the local news media as the kingpin of the ring. From October 10, 1989 through August 15, 1995 there were 122 local newspaper articles related to Operation Asset. A few captions are listed here just to show some time sequence. All 122 are on a disk file named Asset Newspaper. October 10, 1989: Pot Has Flowed Through Pipeline Since 1970s Toby Miller has been selling marijuana since 1975, but jumped into the big leagues when he moved to Arizona in 1985 to oversee his growing network. Toby and his wife Susan are fugitives from justice. March 4, 1990: Notice Of Action and Seizure Forfeiture notice printed. Mary Miller's $ 66,635 cash. Seized out of her basement floor safe by agent Jack Davis of the FBI, and Captain Rob Thomas of the Sheriff's Department. January 6, 1990: Mother Must Pay Rent to Government/ Homes Seized In Drug Probe The mother of accused marijuana trafficker Toby J. Miller must pay rent to the federal government now that U.S. Marshall's have seized her home. Sheriff's Capt. Rob Thomas said Mary Miller, 68, can live in her home at 2012-41st Ave. until she finds new lodgings or until the forfeiture case is settled in court. Her house was one of her three confiscated Thursday morning (Jan. 4, 1990). Seized were 2012, 2020 and 2030-41st Avenue. Her son and daughter-in-law, Toby and Susan Miller are listed as fugitives. A renter in one of the other homes also must pay the government now. Mr. Thomas said he did not know how much the rent was, but said Mary Miller had already made her first payment. Investigators with the FBI, Internal Revenue and Sheriff's department believe the homes were distribution points for the drug- running business headed by Mr. Miller, 41. Although Mary Miller was not charged in the drug conspiracy, federal court documents allege that she had knowledge of her son's business and collected thousands of dollars in cash that was dropped off by dealers at her home. Sept. 14, 1991: TV Show May Help in Arrest/Police Seek Former Local Couple A national television show may help local authorities locate two people who were kingpins in a major drug network. Shows Toby and Susan's pictures again. "We have no idea where they're at today", said Captain Rob Thomas. He said the TV show contacted them about doing the show. "We talked about it and they sent a crew last weekend. We recreated some scenes and cast people to portray the Miller family." October 1, 1992: Fugitives Arrested in Mexico. Three years on the Run Ends for Couple Accused in Operation Asset The hunt for Toby and Susan Miller is over, etc. April 3, 1993: Miller will Go to Prison Judge gives "marijuana maestro" 25 years for drug operation. "You were a major supplier of drugs," U.S. District Chief Judge Ferras said during the hearing. "You were not alone, but the operation was orchestrated in your own way. How much harm you did to others is impossible to assess, etc." July 17, 1993: Asset Testimony Shrinks Term Susan Miller, ex-wife of drug kingpin Toby Miller, gets 14 months in prison. A woman who spent seven years helping her husband run a $40 million marijuana pipeline from Arizona to the Midwest will serve 14 months in prison on tax evasion charges, a federal judge ruled Friday. She was ordered to repay $650 of the $95,549 tax bill she and Miller failed to pay in the 1980s. -*- Although mom was never part of Toby's drug ring conspiracy according to the law, the FBI first seized her $66,000 cash savings from her basement floor safe, then a short time later seized her residence at 2012, and two adjacent duplexes at 2020 and 2030 - 41st Avenue. Toby lived in 2020, which was the duplex next door to mom until he moved to Arizona. Mom then kept it vacant for the times he would occasionally return. She denied ever giving Toby consent to use her properties for his drug business, and said she did not know he was selling or keeping drugs on her property. She denied knowing money was in the stapled-shut grocery bags which were dropped off unsolicited at her house three or four times in six years for Toby when he lived in Arizona. The FBI said she simply kept her head in the sand, and by not trying hard enough to stop him that was the same as giving consent._ Chapter 2 My First Meeting With Two Investigators I had heard a few rumors, but my first confirmed knowledge that Toby was being investigated was in September or October of 1989 at a bar. I was standing next to a guy who looked familiar to me from a long time ago. He was a fellow who use to be on an undercover drug enforcement group way back when I was chasing Toby around town for his drug addiction and other related problems. When I looked at him, trying to remember if I knew him, he acknowledged we knew each other and where from. In short he just said, "Yes I'm a cop, and we have enough on your brother to put him away for a hundred years." For the record, I didn't ask him any specifics nor did we discuss any whys, whens, wheres or whats. The next day I went to see a man I went through school with, Police Chief Jim Kildare, mentioned what I had heard, and asked him if he could please put me in touch with somebody on the case so I could find out what it was all about. He said he knew a lady with the IRS that maybe I could talk to. I wound up going to a local Criminal Division of the U.S. Internal Revenue Service and met with agent Linda Miere, and Captain Rob Thomas of the Sheriff's Department. I didn't know either one of them, but found out I knew Thomas's father, a meat department manager for Erie's Supermarkets. His dad was friends with a previous police chief I knew and occasionally came out to my business to buy some food items for himself or a party. I gave agent Miere a short reference letter I had typed out, hoping it would make them feel more comfortable talking with me about confidential matters. Thomas said he knew me from some of dad's political parties years ago. I didn't know him, though. As I remembered it, when I was a kid I was always so busy getting things ready for the parties that I wasn't at the parties. I told the investigators that dad had left when Toby was about 12 years old and mom, only 35 at the time, had completely withdrawn, leaving Toby pretty much on his own. I went on to explain that it had been hard keeping things normal and Toby always had a way of keeping you off guard and buying time no matter what he came up with, or what mom or I tried. The first thing I learned was that they thought mom had been carrying marijuana back and forth from Arizona for Toby. What a surprise! I told them mom had not left town in 40 years or more. Come to find out, it had been Toby's mother-in-law, Liz Morgan, who had done that. Toby was married to her daughter, Susan, and adopted her three girls, Amber, Ashley, and April. I hardly knew the girls. Then Thomas asked me if I had ever heard of this guy or that guy, but I hadn't. Jim Kildare must have mentioned to him that I had problems with Toby's drug abuse and his suppliers in the past. That was quite a few years back and I didn't know this newest set of people. I got to thinking about how they had mom mixed up with Liz Morgan. And then, I realized I wouldn't put it past my brother to have used either my name or the business' name whenever the purpose suited him. So, in addition to the questions they asked me, I had one for them. I asked Linda if they were also looking into me. She said, "Oh no, you have too many friends." I thought that was a strange answer, but I let it go because I was just glad to get the mom and mother-in-law mixup thing straightened out and thought the whole thing was done. Not! Chapter 3 Long Before Asset Writing about what happened during Operation Asset was fairly simple. Trying to explain how things progressed in a brother's life over thirty years up to Operation Asset speed isn't as simple, nor is it meant to be an excuse for anyone. It isn't something I even feel right about doing, but I think a reader needs to have some background on how it could happen that a mother could get into trouble because her child grew up to be a drug dealer. This, as in the whole summary, isn't meant to blame or denigrate anyone. It just all needs to be said. It sort of all shows what mom (and of course Toby) was up against. Mom and dad got divorced when Toby was about 12 years old. Dad moved to Utah, and moved back here 25 years later to die at age 63 in a little house my wife and I bought and fixed up for him. He was only back here a few months before he died. The other night Jane and I were going through some of he old pictures that had been sent out to dad over the years. Jane ran across one he kept that had a little note written on the back of it. It was one that Toby, at 16 years old, had sent to dad. It said, "Dear Dad, I hope you remember mom and I sometimes. Maybe someday we will all be together again." I see Toby's face saying that, because back then he and I often talked about if mom and dad would ever get back together again. I recall him bringing it up at times. In some ways we both would have liked that. When Toby was 16, I was 22, and had been running the family business for several years by then. A father-son relationship never developed between dad and Toby, as mom was pretty bitter over dad leaving and literally went to bed with the blinds down for several years. I think that was a grave injustice done to Toby. Toby had to have missed dad a great deal, but he didn't hear much at home except mom's own bitterness. Dad never said anything bad about mom, ever, but mom constantly did about dad. My wife and I have seen other couples break up, and one can only cross your fingers and hope the disservice that can be done to a teenager put in the middle doesn't affect the rest of their lives. It did my brother's, and progressed downhill as time went by. Mom and Toby, clinging at home to each other and not going on with the rest of their lives contributed greatly to the grand finale and the family strain that exists. Anyway, my brother has always been an intelligent person with a knack and enjoyment for doing something in front of you that you can't see. He delights in what I call doublethink. Most people can plan one step ahead, but Toby is able to visualize multiple steps ahead with pretty close outcomes. He also knows how to play the generation gap well. He says that, in the 1960s he was a short-haired hippie and mom and I didn't even know it. He, his friends, his car and clothes were clean cut, but his lack of respect for authority was less than conforming. Some parents might have just seen it as high spirit, and most kids turn out okay. Obviously very good parents can still have very bad kids, and perhaps nothing would have changed it all, but I wish mom would have been strong enough to practice some tough love on him. Whenever I tried, it was a losing battle trying to create a united front with mom, or he would jump back and forth between the lady relatives, undermining the effort. God do I wish she would have just given him to me. He told a friend, "As long as I stick close to mom and Sarah (an aunt) I'll never have to work." Toby always did use women a lot. From sending cards, flowers, or "I love yous", he always stayed in good grace with the enablers. He never did anything without including them somehow, somewhere, someplace. It was often thrown up to me by the family ladies that I was either picking on poor Toby or I didn't like him. These same ladies fed Toby that story and condemned dad in front of Toby every chance they got. In 1963 I named my first son after my brother, took him on the few vacations I ever had, and never expected that our relationship would deteriorate as time went on. To try and move it all off dead center one time, in between problems, I asked him to help me in the restaurant equipment part of the business I was doing on the side, which would have included him in at least some togetherness for a trial run at getting along and then building from there. Our father offered him his business in Utah if he would just straighten out and prove himself cured of any addictions and bad attitudes, and build back some confidence. To make a long story short, he didn't want the opportunity I offered, saying he didn't need it, and the other one didn't work out after a year or so of Toby going out to Utah with dad. There was always a story or an excuse for everything that was ever tried for Toby, and the lack of a united front at home enabled his life to continue with no identity or structure. When Toby started shooting cocaine and we were subjected to all the problems related to that, I began to realize that it was always going to be something. It never was peaceful, but certainly less so when he was on cocaine or owed his suppliers: supposedly things had to be done so they wouldn't kill him, I took his guns away so he wouldn't kill them, two of my business truck engines were ruined and one tractor nearly so because sugar had been poured in the gas tanks because I started calling their cards. Scissors were put to my neck, threatening phones calls came in, and so forth. I found myself being sucked into playing Dick Tracy. I started doing my own investigations because the local police wouldn't or couldn't be helpful. I went to drug houses and asked whoever came to the door if my brother was there. I found out that was a bad idea! I wasn't getting anywhere and decided to try something else. I got myself acquainted with a type of girl I thought might unknowingly lead me to where he was or what he was doing. On one date, I had an interesting but short evening watching heroin addicts pass a baby around a strobe-lit room saying how cute he was. Over the years I came to realize that a person can become desensitized to a lot of things that would be unnerving to the average person who has led a sheltered life. If it happened to me, I am sure it affected mom in trying to raise Toby. I think that made it easier for him to put her in the corner he did. After you see one thing the next isn't that alarming. Mom should never have been exposed to some of the things Toby came up with over the years. Because I no longer lived there, I'm sure I didn't see the half of it. Some might not understand a picture like that if they haven't experienced the hours, days, and years of it. It wears you down, and out. After a while I lost track of what he was doing and saw him less and less. Toby was always good at re-couping. If he had been straight he could have been a hell of a guy. Shooting it up every 15-20 minutes, I've seen him sitting on the curb strung out on drugs, or eating eggs over easy with his fingers, or able to pull a hair out of his head and put it right through the palm of his hand. Right. But no matter how low he got, he always made a come back, cleaned himself up, and gave it another go. In some ways he was phenomenal, or had the potential of being so. I will always miss the Toby that could have been. Others shouldn't think they know how I feel about my brother, because only I know that! As more years went by whenever he mentioned what he was doing for a living: gift shop, selling mixed drink machines, real estate, antiques, etc., my mind just wandered in space and my eyes had a hard time focusing on his. It hurt, it worried me, and then I was finally getting tired of it all after 25 or 30 years of it. When he moved to Arizona it was like a mental vacation. I didn't always know when he came back in town, but he occasionally stopped at my business to say hello and we'd chat a little. We had grown so far apart. I sadly visualize each and every one of the twenty- some years I saw it happen. We grew into the kind of brothers that best leave each other alone. I was truly surprised about him being a marijuana kingpin, as the local news media pegged him. I wouldn't have put it past him to mess around with it even though it was always dead-ended trying to find much out, but it was indeed irritating to learn he was over- doing it, not to mention right next door to mom. Years ago, when we were having trouble with his drug addiction and suppliers, I removed him from next door to mom, only to lose when he kept patronizing her and she eventually allowed him to return. Mom's rationale was, "I love Toby, is there anything wrong with having your son live next door"? I thought to myself, no, I love him too, but this isn't the way to handle it. I'm sure he promised her he would be a good boy. As mom would always say after that, "He says he isn't doing anything wrong." Mom tried, but she was no match for him. Time went by fast. One day you put them on the potty, and the next day they are selling pot. Chapter 4 Advice to My Own Children If you ever have any doubt about somebody who could jeopardize your heart, reputation or bank account, remember this little story... Walking in the freezing mountains one day a man ran across a snake who asked if he would please put him in his pocket to get warm. The nice man obliged. When they later got down into the warmer valley, the snake bit him. The man said, "Why did you bite me when I just helped you"? The snake said, "You knew what I was when you put me in your pocket." Chapter 5 Mom's First Meeting with Three Investigators After Toby was indicted by a grand jury around October 1989 but had fled town, Thomas called me at work and said they would like to ask mom some questions. This would be their first meeting with mom. I said sure, and asked him to meet us out at the business where it was convenient for everyone to sit together, and I could tend to the telephone if a customer called. The meeting included mom and myself, agent Linda Miere of the IRS, Captain Rob Thomas of the Sheriff's Department, and agent Jack Davis of the FBI. The IRS agent, Linda, showed mom some $600 in cashiers checks written on an Arizona bank with the signature Mary Miller. She asked mom if they were her signatures, and mom said no. I brought out some canceled business checks to show Linda that, although the signatures she had were pretty close, they were forgeries. Apparently Toby or his wife, Susan, made Arizona house payments this way, and probably did similar forgery other places in the southwest. Linda asked mom what money she had in the bank and she told them. They knew this without asking because I found out later they had already combed through her records at the Broadview Bank (who did not let mom or me know this was being done). I asked a person at the bank about it a few days after this meeting. I inquired if they went through my business and personal accounts as well, which the thought of ticked me off but sounded like an embarrassing possibility, since they had so easily mixed up mom and Toby's mother-in-law, Liz Morgan. The person at the bank said, "Charles, let's put it this way, they are very thorough." I also found out that my brother and his wife and her mother, had all been doing some of their own business at the bank. I didn't know they were banking at the same bank I used. I now feel this was all part of my brother's dark planning as I will explain shortly. However, I was assured by the bank employee that the investigators had said, "This has nothing to do with Charles." Toby created an embarrassing mess. Based on previous threats when he failed to get his own way, what was happening started to fit something he had said to me one time. He implied IF he was doing something wrong and got caught he'd try and ruin the whole family. He said he had it all figured out. What a sick, puzzling statement I thought at the time. This took place after dad died and I heard he was giving mom a hard time about something or other and I called him on it. Dad died and had written Toby out of his Will if he was unemployed or on drugs. Toby didn't attend dad's funeral, later wanted dad's dog, and his wife Susan made some heated threats to me in regards to that issue one night on the telephone. I wasn't about to let dad's little dog he loved so much get kicked around if it got in the way. I sent the little guy back out to the Utah mountains to live on the same grounds chasing little ground squirrels around like he was use to. I have no idea if Toby's wife is the one who put a lit molotov cocktail under one of my trucks out at work later on the night we argued, or not. Fortunately a night duty man across the street saw it and called the fire department. At the meeting, Linda did ask mom about the business accounts. Mom told her she did not own the business or the building it operates out of. Linda seemed a little taken aback by that. She probably looked into those accounts, and shouldn't have. I doubt if the bank's records even reflect the business end of it that way, as all they care about is the signature cards for writing checks. She would absolutely have no cause to look into me or my business unless she didn't do her homework elsewhere on who was who and owned what. Actually, I got to liking Linda as time went along, but she was taken off the case or quit the IRS. A deputy sheriff insinuated something interesting to me about it one time but I never did look into it. Later, I found out that the FBI had done some asking around about me after all. To how many people I don't know. Our next door neighbor friend, Phillip Kohr, was approached one time by an FBI agent at an auction of some asset forfeiture items. He asked Phillip if he ever saw anything strange going on around my house. Phillip said he told the guy that was crazy. I know the guy was just doing his job, but I don't like it when somebody questions my integrity. His generation has society in the mess it is today, not mine. Linda also asked mom about some property in Arizona titled in her name. Mom told her she did not own any property in Arizona. Mom said Toby tried to get her to buy some, but she decided later she didn't want to. I wish I had known that, but again, mom didn't talk to me about Toby. At the time, Toby had mom fill out a financial statement, which they probably obtained from some bank in Arizona that Toby was using. Come to find out Toby had been laundering drug money down there saying he was investing for his mother's estate. This financial statement came back to haunt mom later in the case after the FBI later seized mom's $66,000 cash savings out of her basement floor safe around December 1989. I will address that later. Back to the meeting. Linda asked mom if she had ever taken any packages at her house for Toby. Mom said the mailman use to drop off Toby's mail at her house all the time and she would put it inside, over at his place next door, until he came back in town. Again, Linda asked her if she had ever taken any other kinds of "packages" for him, and mom said, "No." Linda asked her about some other local cashier and a few personal checks made out to Toby and signed by her. Mom said she did make those out to him, and explained what they were for: an antique shop he wanted to buy, and back taxes he told mom he owed. I must have lost it and stood up and said, "Can I ask mom some questions"? Captain Thomas said okay. "Mom, did you pay taxes on all that money"? She said yes, explaining that Mr. Johnson, a retired IRS agent, kept track of all her rent receipts, paychecks, etc., and included everything when he filled out her returns. Linda spoke up and said, "You better have." I said to mom, "Mom, when are you going to quit believing all the bullshit Toby tells you"? I looked at Thomas and said, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to get upset." He said, "Go right ahead, you're doing just fine." This crap was starting to give me thirty-some years of flashbacks I was already tired of and had thought I was finished with. After the meeting, I told my wife I'll bet the investigators spotted the co-dependency between her and Toby in the first fifteen minutes. After a few more questions from Linda and Thomas, the meeting was winding down so I asked them if there was anything else they wanted to know from mom. The FBI agent, Jack Davis, who earlier in the meeting had said he had known my brother in college and implied he never cared for him then because he was so cocky, spoke up and said, "We are not going to be hurried and we'll ask all the questions in our own time. "Pardon me," I thought to myself. Trying to be friendly, I gave him a sheet of some printed jokes I had lying on a shelf by the front door to give to people. I think I said something like, maybe this will brighten up your day, and he seemed to get a kick out of it. Again, I thought it was all cleared up. Not! Chapter 6 Search at 2020 Where Toby Lived Sometime around November 2, 1989, I got a call from agent Davis to meet them at Toby's (next door to mom's house) so they could seize his old Volvo car, a used pickup truck with a plow, and look through his personal things. Toby and Susan had skipped town with their three girls, leaving literally most everything in the house. The FBI was looking for clues where they might be. After they were finished searching, Davis said they didn't want anything else. I later sold off the furnishings for about $1000 and gave the money to mom. I hired someone to clean out everything left behind and clean the house. The only thing left was the stove and refrigerator and the place was ready to rent. After agent Davis left that day I noticed that somebody had left their briefcase by the corner of the garage at 2020. I think I opened it and determined it was Davis', so I ran it down to where I thought all of them might have gone, to the County jail. As I recall, his gun was in it, and I suppose if I had wanted to I could have looked at all the paperwork in it, but you know how it is when your brain tells you it's none of your business. When I pulled in down there he knew right away what he had done and smiled thankfully. Before I sold off the furnishings, I asked George and Gina Peterson, Susan's children's grandparents, if they wanted any of the kids' belongings from the house. They came down and Gina picked out a few things to keep for them and also bought a few small ceramics. I thought it best that she pay for them so nobody could ever say she and George had taken anything. The sale was to protect them. While I was looking around again, I found a diary tucked behind the bed of one of the girls. Her writings described a very dysfunctional living situation. While there I also found a VHS tape of Toby, Susan, the girls and a german shepherd dog, taken by their Arizona home swimming pool, which I had never seen or heard of. Seeing the handsome dog was kind of sad because Toby never kept one very long. George Peterson must have seen me carrying the diary and tape because he asked me one time on the telephone what they were. I told him what I had found and said I didn't want to upset Gina at the time about the diary. He understood that. I told him if he wanted to see them, I had given them to Thomas. I also understood from where he was coming, as George has been in law enforcement. Chapter 7 First Mention of Seizing Mom's Properties While outside, during that initial search with the investigators, agent Davis mentioned paperwork written up to seize the house where Toby lived, but not to worry about it. Flabbergasted, I just said, "Huh"? Inside, Thomas said, "Now they want to take everything your mother has to make her tell what she knows about Toby. It might even make him come back." I looked over at Davis and said, "That would be a hell of a thing to do! I worked damn hard to help finish paying these homes off fifteen years ago." He said, "We know that, don't worry, were not going to. He said he told them (whoever them is) they might find Mary in a pool of blood some morning if they did that to her. Three times he said don't worry about it; the last time as he was pulling out of the driveway. I said, "What if the paperwork comes to the top and they do it anyway." He said, "They won't." I said, "How do you know"? He said, "Because they have to work with me everyday." I have no idea who"they" are. A little later I followed up on this property seizure talk with Thomas. I told him we had to get on with the rest of our lives and this would be the perfect opportunity for me to get mom to move like I have tried to do for so many years. I told him I'd like to sell all her property and get mom a nicer place somewhere. He said he would ask Davis about it and get back with me. I asked Thomas again a few days later about it and he said, "Go ahead and sell them, we are not going to take them." I still felt queasy about what they originally said but I felt better on blind trust that their word was as good as mine had been with them. I went to see Thomas and Davis so many times during this case that if anything pisses me off it's Toby knowing I'd really have to scramble around for mom trying to first figure out what he had done and then try and straighten it all out. Always being the last person to find out anything all those years, I was constantly playing catch up when something arose. I told Thomas I was getting shell shocked. Anyway, I then contacted Jenny Balther, a local real estate investor, to see if she would be interested in buying all five of mom's properties that were all together on a 3 1/2 acre piece of ground in town. She asked me why I wanted to sell it. I told her mom could no longer manage all of her property at her age, that I had been trying to get her to move for many years, and that perhaps she would do it now. I also explained to her the problem we were having with my brother, as it's just my style to be open with people. I always wondered if the Balther lady called FBI agent Davis' main office (his boss in another town) to check on my validity and to check on my offer to sell. The FBI prosecutor there, Thad Morris, wouldn't have known, of course, that the investigators here locally had given me the okay to go ahead and sell. If she did contact him, Morris may have thought I was trying to pull one on them like my brother did when he sold his Arizona house, and he could have then decided to seize mom's property before the same thing could happen again. It sort of fits in with some of the things agent Davis said to me later about it "just being another stupid marijuana case until he showed them how many assets he could get", and then them missing out on getting very many of Toby's assets. It's just a thought that really sickens me now. I started thinking about this after a telephone conversation I had with Morris shortly after the property seizure. I had asked him "Why was this done when I was just trying to sell the property"? It's when and how he said, "I THOUGHT you were just trying to protect your mother", that I got a peculiar feeling that something was missing in this whole thing. Morris always seemed like a pretty nice guy to me, so I'd like to think there was just some lack of him not being informed about what Thomas and Davis told me I could do. If that is what happened it is a crying shame, and it has always bothered me that Morris might have thought that I was trying to pull something underhanded. It was never the case at all. Chapter 8 Abrupt Seizure of Mom's Cash Savings Before the real estate seizure happened though, $66,000 in cash was seized from mom in December of 1989. Unfortunately, she was never able to prove that this was money she had been saving for years, because FBI Davis co-mingled her money (almost entirely old bills) with currency now in circulation, by depositing the entire amount of cash seized from mom into a bank account. Thomas' deposition said he would have kept it in an evidence locker. The following is what took place that night. Captain Thomas called me at home about 9:30 pm. He said, "Charles, this is Rob Thomas. Jack and I would like to meet you at your mom's house. I think there is something that Brahm built at your mother's house she may not know about." I never did figure out why he made that statement. I recall him saying they were talking to Brahm and would meet me there in about a half hour. I said okay. I called mom's house and told her I was coming down. It was about 9:45 pm when I got there. When I went inside I asked, "Mom, did you have a guy name Brahm build something here"? She said, "Yes, when Toby hired Brahm from C & C Improvement Co. to do some gutter work and tuck-pointing at 2020 (the rental of mom's that Toby lived in next door to her), Toby asked me if I still wanted a safe built-in to protect my savings and I told him yes. He said that guy could do it for me. You know I had a guy try to break in here before and all the crime that goes on around here." I said to mom, "I know mom, but Brahm is one of Toby's drug dealers." Mom: Charles, I didn't know that until I read it in the paper. Charles: J.... C....., Mom! When are you going to quit believing Toby all the time? Mom: I'm sorry! What should I do now? Charles: What's in the safe ? Mom: My savings. Charles: How much? How long ago did he put it in? Mom: M-m-m about 65,000 or so. He put it in 2 or 3 years ago, and I haven't been in it since. What should I do now? Should we take it out? Charles: Hell no. If you think I'm going to do that and they come in it'll really look like you've done something wrong and you haven't. They'll be here in about a half hour or so, we'll just sit here and wait for them. Is the money your savings? Mom: Yes. It's cash I've saved over the years from rent, paychecks, your dad's insurance and stuff. Charles: Okay. No problem. You probably ought to get the safe combination for it so you'll have it and we'll just wait for them. Did you pay tax on all of your rent receipts when the renters pay cash? Mom: Yes, Mr. Johnson took care of all that every year. Then mom went into her bedroom, saying to herself, "I'm so nervous I can't even remember for sure exactly where I put it." She looked around her bookcase for a while pulling out books, and thumbed through them to see which book she had it in. In about 5 minutes she said "here it is." Captain Thomas and Jack Davis came to the door (about 10:30 pm or a bit later), and we all sat down in mom's living room to start talking. Some discussion took place about Brahm saying he put in a safe and that he claimed he'd seen the safe brimming over with money. Jack: Mary, do you have a safe in the basement? Mom: Yes, my savings is in it. Jack: How much? Mom: About $65,000 or $70,000. Jack: Where's the money it from? Mom: Well, I got 35,000 from my husband's life insurance, and.. (interruption from Jack) Jack: Oh come on Mary, your shaming me! Mom: I am not! Jack: (Looking at me) I'd like to get into the safe. Now if I have to I can get a search warrant, and I know I can. But I'll tell you, I'm going to sit right here in this chair until I get it and I'm not moving. Charles: Jack, you know that's not necessary. When in the past year or so have we ever not been fully cooperative? She hasn't done anything wrong except maybe believing that damn son of hers. Then Jack gave her some paper to sign and we all got up and started toward the basement. Jack asked her how long ago the safe was put in, or how long since she'd been in it. Mom said 2 or 3 years ago. Jack asked her for the combination and mom went and got it and gave it to him. He said, "for not being in it for 2 or 3 years you sure knew where the combination was quick." I let that one go because I could see Jack's mind was made up as to what he thought, and the fever of this thing was high. I really wanted to come back on that one but kept my mouth shut. Investigators don't believe much if their mind is made up about something. We were all walking as the talking was going on. At the bottom of the basement stairs mom asked him where he thought it was. Jack: Right over there. Jack walked over to a short metal cabinet, pulled it out, and the safe was under it. Right where Brahm had told them he installed it. Jack got down and began to work the combination. He said it didn't feel like the tumblers were moving. He did it again and then on the last number tried to turn the handle of the safe. It broke off in his hand. I said it sure didn't look like it had been used much to me. The whole safe facing was rusted to the frame, and the handle spindle showed similar age or non use. He said when he stood up, "I think they make the handles that way in case someone tries to force it open." Right. In my opinion he didn't want to admit it wasn't an active drug safe-- but then I'm not a mind reader. Jack said they'd call a key fixit shop and they would pay for his services to come out and open the safe. The man came and tried to no avail, so he went back to his shop to measure a safe like it so he'd know where to drill the bolts open. While he was gone, Jack, Rob and I went over to 2030 (another rental, adjacent to 2020) and went down into the basement. Brahm had told Rob and Jack that he and my brother had put marijuana down there before. Brahm had told them that my brother had said to him, "if my mom ever sees us down here, tell her we're working on the plumbing." Nothing was found in the basement. We went back over to mom's house to wait for the fixit man to come back. The fixit man came back and drilled open the safe. Just previous to getting it open I asked Jack how he could tell if the money was drug money. He said he could tell by how it was packaged. I didn't understand that, and let it go. When the safe man got the safe door open I expected to see it brimming over with money like Brahm said. At first it looked empty from where I was standing because the safe measures inside about 20 x 20 x 20, but on the bottom, over in the corner was an old grocery-type paper bag that was dwarfed in size by the safe. Jack reached down, pulled it out and opened it. The bag was taped at the bottom and open at the top. In the bag there was a little cardboard box full of money. Looked like a little shoe box. The money was covered with lots of mold. Charles: Well Jack, how is it packaged? Jack: Just like drug money, with rubberbands around it. The fixit man told me at a later date when I went down to get a key made one day, that he was really surprised at that statement Jack made, that it was drug money because it was rubberbanded. The fixit man thought it was a shame, and said he even wraps his own money like that. He also said they put floor safes in homes for people's money all the time. When I tried to get him to verify for mom what was said in the basement about the old bills he wouldn't do it. I don't blame him. With this mentality going on who would? Charles: Oh, bull shit! What in the hell else is there to wrap money in besides rubberbands or paper clips? Jack: I've seen drug money wrapped this way before. Charles: So what? Charles: Let me see how old some of that money is. Look how old these bills are! We flipped through the bills and looked at the dates on them. Most of the dates were 1964 through 1977, and I remarked on that to Davis and Thomas. Davis said, .".here's one in the eighties." There were a few 1985 or 1986 dates. Most of the bills were $20s, and just a few 100s. Jack asked where she got the 100s. I spoke up and asked mom if she had ever changed any small bills to bigger ones to save on space. Jack told me to be quiet and quit putting words in my mother's mouth and speaking for her. Jack: Mary, where did this money come from? Mom: That's my savings. From my paychecks, renters, my uncle would give me money in his last years...(then an interruption by Jack) Jack: Come on now! You told us upstairs that you got it from your husband's life insurance. "Now wait a minute", I said. Rob broke in, saying, "Yes she did, Charles." Then I said, "I know that, but she wasn't given a chance to say hardly anything before Jack said she was shaming him, let alone explain any other places she got money from for Christ's sake." Mom then said, "I get so nervous with you guys I can't even think at all." Jack said he was going to seize her money as drug money and have it sent to Washington and have it laser tested. I said how in heck can you do that with all the mold on it. Besides, I said, mom use to let my brother handle the rentals and some of the money was bound to have some of his prints on it. Mom reiterated the latter part of my statement as she often does when I'm saying something. In my mind this was not the issue. Mom said that money was hers, and she had showed me some of her money hidden under the laundry, etc. years ago, in case something ever happened to her. Jack counted the money in the basement and came up with $73,000. Then he counted again and came up with $68,000. We all went upstairs then and sat at mom's kitchen table. We went over a lot of the same talk as before. Jack said he was seizing her money anyway. He counted it again and came up with $63,000. I jokingly said, "Jack, you aren't consistent with your stories." I laughed and so did he, kind of. I told him just to put any number down and that we trusted him. No big deal to have to have an accurate accounting with him tonight. It was getting close to midnight, if not later. He then had mom sign something. I said to Jack, "Mom could easily have saved that money. She never hardly ever spends a nickel." I opened up her refrigerator and freezer and showed him what she kept in it: nothing except milk and ice. I said, "Jack, not to humiliate mom, but look at what my mother is wearing. The same pair of jeans and sweatshirt she's been washing for years and they're paper thin." He said, "I noticed that." I said to him, "Jack, just before I got here this evening she was getting ready to heat herself up a bowl of soup for supper. Jack looked over at mom and said, "Mary, you should take better care of yourself." Mom said she was just a saver, and that ever since her husband had left her about 30 years ago, she just didn't care anymore. About now, we all got up and this nightmare came to a close for the evening. It was about midnight. I didn't see Rob leave, but I was standing along side of Jack's car and told him I thought he was wrong. He said, "Maybe, we'll see." I asked him what mom was supposed to live on and he said, "She's got her CD at the bank." I took his word on the cash, and didn't even call an attorney. Chapter 9 Shortly After Seizing Mom's Cash Savings A few days after this I had mom come up to our house and Jane and I went over her finances of the past years and wrote down in detail money she could have saved. We also went over her living costs. The numbers added up to well over $200,000 she could have saved in all these years, and her living costs were running $70 to $100 a week, plus she had a good income besides. All of this is documented on other files on a computer disk, and the IRS never had any qualms about it. I have included a chapter herein of mom's personal income and expenditures that I documented for the law and later mom's attorney, which we would have used had the whole mess gone to trial. I called Rob Thomas the next morning from mom's house and asked him if he would like to talk to mom without me around. My wife thought maybe the investigators were tired of me always speaking up for her. That made sense to me, especially after Jack telling me to be quiet that night they seized mom's money. Mom didn't know I was coming down. I suggested to her perhaps she should start talking to them by herself, and that this thing was a lot more involved than I knew about. It was really getting to me. She said she didn't mind talking to Rob, but that Jack made her feel uncomfortable ever since he said he went to college with Toby and never did care for him. I asked her if I called Rob right then, would she talk to him? She said yes. I called Rob and he said he'd be right out. One thing I want to make absolutely clear right now. I did not discuss what she should say to Rob. I simply told mom to tell Rob everything, period, even if it was something she didn't want to say, personal or not. She said she would. Rob came, I left, and they talked. Later I asked Rob how the meeting went. He said, .".we're seizing the money, her story isn't consistent with what she said the night we came." I said, "What do you mean"? He then proceeded to tell me something I didn't know, although I can readily understand why she wouldn't have told them. He told me that the safe mom originally had didn't fit in the hole that Brahm made in her basement floor. She and Brahm went somewhere and got a new one and Brahm put it in. Brahm had asked mom if she wanted him to show her how to work it. He said mom got a folder of hers from some hiding spot she had with some money in it and Brahm showed her how to work the combination. She said that when my brother got back from out of town, he asked her if Brahm got her safe put in, and if she wanted him to help her gather up and count how much she had saved, and get it put into her safe. She said okay. Toby asked her how she wanted it packed, and asked her if they could just put rubberbands around it. She said okay, and that's what they did. Rob says someone coached her to say that. I said, "I didn't tell her to say anything." He said, "Did I say you did"? I still don't know who he meant. Mom has told me this is what happened, and that she has not been in the safe after that period of time. I think the fact that the safe was rusted shut and that the handle broke off while Davis was trying to open it, dampness or not, makes it pretty clear that it wasn't an active drug safe. I have drilled mom on that matter time and time again, and she said it wasn't. Jack later said they think Toby left the money there to pay her back for the money she gave him for his back income taxes he told her he owed from his (legitimate) businesses, and for a start into his antique business. I didn't buy his supposition because mom would never ask for any repayment from either of her sons. I don't know why Davis and Thomas kept changing their stories to me about what the money stood for. We gave Davis permission to look into the safe because we trusted him, regardless of his accusatory attitude that late night. Mom would have had more than enough time to get the money out of her safe before they got there if she had been worried about her money being viewed as drug money (neither of us knew the safe was rusted shut, of course). As I said before, Thomas called me that night and said they had just talked to Brahm, and that they were leaving there and that I should meet him and Davis at mom's house in about a half-hour. He also said that there might be something at one of her places she doesn't know about. We waited a long time for them to arrive. During that time I told mom to get the combination for the safe ready for them if they wanted it. While walking towards her bedroom she said she hadn't been in it for so long she had to try to remember where she put it. After a while she found it between some pages in a book. When Davis finally did ask for it after they arrived and she handed it to him, he said, "For not being in it for so long you sure found it quickly." Although Jack's a decent guy, he sure makes hasty judgements. Things his 60s generation didn't like about adults back then. I wasn't surprised to learn that mom had a floor safe put in, because I knew she had wanted a floor safe for her cash savings twenty-some years ago. She had talked about it again, in later years, after catching a man breaking into her house while she was home and said because of the neighborhood's continuing deterioration she wanted a safe -- same reason she put in an alarm system and security doors. Thad Morris, the FBI prosecutor did not want any documented police reports about any of these facts allowed into future evidence for mom. And neither could her actual cash ever be viewed to verify the old dates on the bills because, as I found out much later, the evidence she would have needed had this whole mess gone to trial, had been deposited into a bank and thus her cash was co-mingled with all the rest of the bank's cash. Now it was their aim to show this was Toby's illegal drug money. I asked Davis in his office how they could prove mom guilty of anything. He quickly said, "WE DON'T HAVE TO." This was the first I ever knew there was such a law like that in this Country. They pointed out she did not list any cash on the financial statement she filled out for Toby. I asked them, "Who would"? They theorized the money was either Toby's drug money, or cash from Toby's drug business repaid to her for personal checks she had written to him to pay back-taxes he told her he owed. Or that it was repayment in cash for checks she gave him to buy an antique shop. Thomas said he didn't doubt she could have saved up that much money, but he said, "That particular money was drug money." Asset forfeiture laws have been written for investigators and prosecutors to be judge, jury and executioner, because if you are innocent and decide to fight, your public integrity is already gone, you are on the defensive in an uphill legal battle, and the legal defense can finish breaking you financially. Chapter 10 Mom's Spending Habits It still amazes me that the law could believe the cash they seized from mom was drug money, considering the old dates on her cash and my own knowledge of mom's income and spending habits. My brother would have been as young as 10 years old based on many of the dates I saw on the cash that seizure night. Furthermore, there was no motive for her to involve herself with my brother's money, and I know that she never would have accepted repayment for the money she gave him to pay his income taxes and buy the antique shop, as the law suggested. That never was her style. As irritated as I get with her about some things, I do know how she thinks philanthropically, and could cite many examples where she consciously came out on the short end just so that she could help others financially. The house located at 2136-41th Street is presently being rented so far below value that it cannot be kept up. Mom says the old couple there are sick and she cannot consciously raise the rent or ask them to move. There are countless other examples. Unfortunately, mom feels her money is all she has to offer and it makes her feel good. Thomas said one time, he had never seen a person with lower self-esteem. The cash seizure by agent Davis, let alone destroying her evidence, was in a different sense more frustrating than when he seized her properties. What a shame! The IRS agent had no qualms about any of mom's financial matters after seeing them. I think that agent Miere would agree that mom would make a good front person for a famine. The other two investigators never were impressed with anything that didn't fit their criteria. The IRS lady was pretty decent all the way through the case. No doubt it was an experience of a life-time for her, raised in a plastic money society, to see an older person's money habits in the opposite extreme. Chapter 11 List of Material Furnished to the Law A. Referral sketch by Charles of Mary's eight (8) income producing units. The law said that mom should have been able to see my brother unloading marijuana at the 2030 duplex's rear door. The arrow in my sketch shows that from where mom sits in her old chair she could not possibly see the parking area or the rear basement door on the east side of 2030. The law said my brother had a semi-truck, with some kind of hiding place on it, which he used to bring in marijuana. They said mom should have definitely been aware of that truck pulling in and out of the driveway. What the investigators did not know (and still didn't care after I pointed it out) is that one of the renters at 2030 drove a semi-truck for a living and it was not uncommon for him to bring it home whenever he was in town. I drew the sketch of mom's properties because I felt it might be handy for the federal judge to see during negotiations with the FBI seizing attorney. Another supposition the investigators made was that mom should have been suspicious of individuals coming in and out of the driveway at 2020 during a certain time span they were referring to. I pointed out to them that the guys living in both the duplexes (2020 and 2030) during that time held basketball games and tournaments almost every night and on weekends at the rear of 2020. That ground goes 200 feet to the rear of the 2020 garage, as this was the driveway used for the business out in back and was where the basketball pole was. Mom saw cars and guys coming in and out all the time there. But no matter what I said, it was like talking to a brick wall. Whatever, if anything, they might have been right about, it wasn't those things. B. Mary's personal living costs, and a brief explanation of each. C. Detailed pages of rental income and minimum possible cash accumulations from the 1950s, 1960s, 1970s and through the pertinent 80s years. Chapter 12 Sketch of Properties Seized This Homestead (1) began in 1947. The sketch of homes and duplexes you see were purchased one by one as the business allowed, first operated out of the garage marked (1A) 1947-1952, and later out of the building marked (1B) 1952-1978. What you see on the sketch is each numbered unit that has produced income beginning in 1947. _ Chapter 13 Mom's Personal Weekly Living Costs FOOD: $ 23.00 Please see affidavit Charles & Davis' talk about this at mom's kitchen table the night he seized her money. Freezer and refrigerator empty except for milk, pop and ice cubes. Mom had a can of soup heating on the stove when he initially arrived to seize the money. Mom's diet for her ninety-some pound frame: Morning: Two crackers with margarine and two cups of coffee with cream and two heaping teaspoons of sugar. Lunch: Sometimes a McDonald's ice cream cone. I thought it was funny, knowing her driving routine of going to work at 9:30 am, the bank about 1:30 pm, and onto McDonald's for an ice cream cone about 2:00 pm on her way home, when Captain Thomas said one time about following her during the investigation, "She certainly doesn't have the lifestyle or routine of a drug dealer!" That was nearly as "Duh" as the two years it took me to convince the local Social Security office that she qualified for her social security benefits even though she was still working a few hours at the business but had no control over it. Dinner: One can Cambell's chunky chicken soup and/or a sandwich. Sometimes she switches to wieners. Items she can get directly across the street at the convenient store, as she will not venture out to a supermarket. UTILITIES: 27.00 Gas & elec. $16, water $2, phone $4, cable $5. GASOLINE: 5.00 To work, bank, and back home. No other mileage. CLOTHING: 2.00 Please see affidavit of Charles & Davis' talk about this at mom's table the night her money was seized. She has never bought a dress herself, but did buy a pair of loafer shoes in 1984. Mom wears mostly vintage thinned out jeans, and some of her deceased sisters' clothes, etc. Many years ago, whenever dad and she would go out for an evening she always borrowed her sister's clothes. Most Christmas gifts we have bought her are still wrapped and stored in her closet. RENT: None None since 1975. Now paying the U.S. Government rent to live in her own house. CAR PAYMENT: None Has never bought one since dad left in the 60s. In years past would drive my CJ5 snow plow Jeep, or one of the big business trucks. She is now driving the car left to her when her uncle died. It is a 1984 Chevrolet Hatchback. When she got it in 1987 it had 15,000 miles on it, and now has 34,000 miles on it. Her driving routine to work and home is 10 miles, and she is averaging 2,375 miles per year over the past eight years. NEWSPAPERS AND MAGAZINES: None Only knows what goes on in the world by one radio station or when someone tells her something. MISCELLANEOUS: Gifts, cards. 8.00 LIFE INSURANCE: One 20,000 policy $630 a year. 12.00 CAR INSURANCE: 5.00 HOMEOWNER INSURANCE: 4.00 PERSONALS: Hairdresser, recreation or hobbies. None Mom has never been to a hairdresser in her life, and in the good old days when she was doing her hair, she used an antique hot curling iron that she would heat on top of the gas stove burner. She has never been to the shopping mall, and her curriculum activities are zero, since about 1964. DOCTOR OR MEDICAL: Occasionally a dentist. None VACATIONS: In at least 40 years. None MAINTENANCE: 5.00 Charles's tractor and plow does large areas and drives. Only past two years has a Yard Service cut the front part of her grass. PROPERTY TAX: Parcel # , $879 a year. 17.00 TOTAL WEEKLY LIVING COSTS (avg. $70-110) $108.00 The near-famine budget mom lives on is true. This whole thing was a tragedy. She still tears Kleenex in half before using them. Chapter 14 Rental Income (8) Producing Units NO. 1 RENTAL INCOME DUPLEX, downstairs from 1959-1888, 29 years, rent 200-250 mo., (225 average) $78,300 RENTAL INCOME DUPLEX, upstairs, from 1959-1985, 1959-1985, 26 years, rent 200-250 mo., (225 avg) 70,200 NO. 2 RENTAL INCOME DUPLEX, downstairs from 1959-1987, 28 years, rent 200 mo. 67,200 RENTAL INCOME DUPLEX, upstairs, from 1959 - 1989, 30 years, rent 200 mo. 72,000 NO. 3 RENTAL INCOME SINGLE, single, from 1965-1989, 24 years, rent 175-200 mo., (188 avg) 54,144 NO. 3A RENTAL INCOME TRAILER SALES, from 1965-1968, 4 years, rent 250 mo. 12,000 NO. 4 RENTAL INCOME SINGLE, from 1966-1989, 23 years, rent 200-225 mo., (212 avg) 58,512 NO. 5 RENTAL INCOME SINGLE, from 1953-1985, 32 years, rent 125-200., (175 avg) 62,400 TOTAL RENTAL INCOME 1959-1989, 30 years $ 474,756 A thirty year average of $ 15,825 per year. Rental Income Explanations Sometimes rentals are temporarily empty. My mother has always kept the rent charges low to keep her properties rented, and they haven't seen much vacancy from about 1985 or 1986 back. However I took that into consideration by averaging the rent. Example: 200- 250 is figured as 225 per month. Total rent income is divided by 30 years to get the average yearly rental income amount of $15,825. On the whole, in the past 30 years (50 to 75 different renters) they paid as often by cash as by check. Based on the yearly $15,825 rent income, mom says that she would save about 1/2 of the $7913 cash paid by renters, which is $3956 per year. Possible cash rent paid by renters in 30 yrs $237,374. Half of that amount is what mom says she can recall as cash saved $118,687 Note: The remaining $356,069 (total rent less cash saved), was used for mortgage payments (which were paid off in full around 1975), and her other expenses like income property maintenance, taxes, and other uses. Believe it or not, mom did have a checking account. At one time she had $85,000 in it, getting no interest. Chapter 15 MISCELLANEOUS CASH SAVED CHRISTMAS MONEY FROM MOM'S FATHER: $ 7,000 Always gave $200 cash each year for 35 years. BIRTHDAY MONEY FROM MOM'S FATHER: 3,500 Always gave $100 cash each year for 35 years. MONEY FROM HER UNCLE: 8,000 Cancer bout 1980-1987, gave mom about $1,000 a year until he died MONEY FROM HER UNCLE'S WILL: Died in 1987 2,000 His CD and savings account came to 18,000: (Bank 1) 17,500, and (Bank 2) 500. Mom gave one cashier check total of 10,000 to my brother for the antique shop, one cashier check total of 3,000 to one sister, and one cashier check total of 3,000 to another sister. Balance received in cash from bank was 2,000. Sold her uncle's furniture for $200 check. NA Refund from uncle's hospital insurance $300 NA Cash her uncle had in his closet (in his shoes). 3,700 NO. 3A INCOME TRAILER SALES: (late 1950s, 60s) In the rear of duplex property No. 2 ? MARY'S FATHER'S ESTATE 1978, 83 yrs. old: Duplex sold for approx. 8,000 Savings account 900 Sisters (3) got 2,000 cashier checks -6,000 Mom cashed her 2,000 and gave 1,000 to my boys. The balance in cash was 1,900 CHILD SUPPORT: 8 years 1964-1972, $10.00 week, $520 year. $4,160 in total. Said she cashed about half 2,080 TOTAL MISCELLANEOUS CASH SAVED $ 35,180 Chapter 16 Paychecks Cashed 1975-1987, 13 Years Started Social Security on 4/21/88 PAYCHECKS CASHED : $ 40,560 I averaged mom's paychecks because at times her salary varied from year to year as profits or checkbook could handle a set draw. Varied from $250 to $400. Used $300 week. 13 years comes to $202,800. Mom figures she cashed about 1/4 to 1/5th of them. I figured 1/5th minimum. For years she would "accumulate" her paychecks until I tried to balance the checkbook. She would "hold them" uncashed. Said she wanted to keep the checkbook balance up. I asked her to quit it because it made balancing the checkbook hard to do. The Bank also sent mom's attorney a letter verifying all of this. DAD'S LIFE INSURANCE 1983 Died 1983. Total life insurance was $ 33,000 which she reinvested by purchasing $33,000 in life insurance for herself. SALE OF NO.5 RENTAL UNIT Sold No.5 Rental property for $ 20,619 SUMMARY OF ABOVE CASH ACCUMULATIONS SAVED: Rent cashed (1/2 of the $237,374) $118,687 Miscellaneous cashed 35,180 Paychecks cashed 40,560 Sale of No.5 cashed 20,619 TOTAL CASH 'MINIMUM' 215,046 $215,046 Chapter 17 Doesn't Prove a Thing In the eyes of the law, this does not prove the money FBI agent Davis seized and destroyed from mom's safe was hers. Short of having a third party receipt for all of the serial numbers of each and every bill, along with all of the where-froms and why- fors, there is little one could do to convince the law that cash is yours if they choose not to believe you. Under present civil forfeiture laws, the money is guilty if law enforcement people say so because by law they don't have to prove it. Contrary to what you read in the papers, forfeiture laws are not just directed at drug kingpins as the government would like you to believe. If you have associated yourself with someone of questionable character, in mom's case her own son, or are in some other circumstances which a law enforcement person thinks is unusual, the chances of getting your money back would not only be slim, but probably cost more in attorney's fees than the value of the money. If that is how it is in America today, it only stands to reason that law abiding citizens must prepare beforehand just in case it hits home. Just as one might have extra canned goods in your food pantry, get to know a good defense attorney in case you ever need one. If you are ever put in an awkward position where a law enforcement person starts to circle you with words or becomes accusatory to you, do not say one more word to them no matter how polite they are, how nice or attractive they are, regardless of your childhood image of officer friendly. Call your attorney and explain the situation before saying another word. Keep in mind that even though you know you are innocent of any wrong doings, they don't know you are innocent, and some people in law enforcement don't will pursue even a minor law violation if there are other rewards more gainful to them available by pursuing the misdemeanor. Furthermore, there are so many laws anymore you might not even know you have broken one. Don't do anything to help them locate one. You have that right under the Constitution. The best advice may have come from mom's attorney when he said to just stay away from those kind of people because they can find something wrong with anybody if they want to. By the wisdom in law of our Founding Fathers, you are under no obligation to say anything that can rightly or imaginatively be used against you in a court of law. Having to mistrust the use of even well intended laws is unfortunate. I hope these times are just an aberration, but if it was put into our Constitution over 200 years ago apparently they knew what one human being is capable of doing to another and wrote it in. Your very nice local corporate attorney you may have known for thirty years is not, in my opinion, someone capable of handling something of this nature. If you get even a whiff of a possible seizure involving you, one of your family members, friends or employees, immediately contact Forfeiture Endangers American Rights (F.E.A.R.) and ask them to refer you to an attorney in your state that is an expert in forfeiture proceedings. F.E.A.R. is a national organization dedicated to eliminating forfeiture abuses. Many members of the House Judiciary Committee in Congress are familiar with this organization. FEAR has brought documented cases of abuse before Congress and works to reform laws nationwide. F.E.A.R. is headed by defense attorney Brenda Grantland in Mill Valley, CA. She or members of FEAR, can be reached at 415/388-8128 (voice mail) or by writing F.E.A.R., 20 Sunnyside, #A204, Mill Valley, CA 94941. Chapter 18 Abrupt Seizure of Mom's Three Properties About 8:30 a.m. in early January of 1990, I received a call at work from my wife, Jane, who said, "Charles, your worst nightmare just happened. They're down at your mother's house to take everything she has." As I recall, Captain Thomas called and told her to tell me. I then got on the telephone to the only attorney I knew, Nick Raymond, asked him if he would represent mom, and told him to hurry and meet me at mom's house. When I arrived there were about 10 cars and 20 people swarming everywhere. Participating in the raid on mom were six law enforcement agencies; the FBI, the IRS, the Justice Department, the Marshall's Service, the Sheriff's Department, and the City Police. It seemed like everybody was there except the Army, Navy, and Marines. I understand even the Sheriff's lady friend "scooped" the story on mom's property with the public television camera going. Mom said she told this "reporter" to get off her property and the person said, "What does it matter, they're going to seize everything anyway!" I went onto mom's screened in porch where I saw Captain Thomas and said to him, "Rob, I thought you told me you weren't going to do this." He said, "Charles, we came up with more evidence." I said, "Oh bullshit!" Evidently, Toby's cronies, Brahm and the Bowman brothers, said they had dropped money "packages" off at mom's house and she had counted the bundles (I never did find out if this was true, or if it was the only reason the agents broke their word to me). Rob started to tell me one time "what prompted the raid", as he said, but we never finished the conversation. He did say he brought it up because he thought maybe I thought they were bad cops. What a mess. I just mentally couldn't take much more. Anyway, I proceeded to go off by myself to the corner of the porch and try to pull myself together. Linda (IRS) came out of the house and put her arms around me. She said, "Charles, we know that nobody has tried any harder to stop Toby than you have." Rob said, "People know it's not you." I thought to myself, the whole town knows she's my mom. I can't help her now because of the press and this mess, and I can't get a straight story out of her, or the law. This was as close to a suicide situation I'd ever want to come. In a few minutes I walked into mom's living room. She was in her old nightgown sitting in the same 40-year-old caved-in red chair where she always sat. Guys were swarming and searching everywhere. I asked mom what happened and she said Captain Thomas came banging on her back door. When she went to the door in her nightgown and asked him what he wanted, he said, "We're here to seize your house, Mary." She asked him, "Where am I supposed to go"? He said, "I don't care where you go, but you have a half-hour to pack up and get out." One of the men from the Justice Department had a camcorder going and somebody was asking mom where Toby was. With her head down, mom was mumbling as if in a daze ."..pieces of silver." An IRS man and I determined later that she had been referring to a Biblical quote about selling somebody out to save yourself. It was like sharks in a feeding frenzy. By this time mom's attorney was standing in the middle of the living room talking to Davis and Thomas. He asked Davis if there was anything else he needed and Davis said, "Well, I'd like to search the house." Nick said, "Not without a search warrant." Davis said, "I don't have probable cause to get one." They were seizing her house and didn't have probable cause to search it? That was interesting, because there were already guys all over the place searching her bedroom, Toby's old room, the kitchen, basement, kitchen cupboards, etc. Davis even came out of mom's bedroom some time later with about $5,000 in cash and rent checks which I think they found under her mattress. One thing I'll never forget is standing in the middle of the living room, asking these two guys to please not indict my mother. That behavior is not like me, but this was like Nazi stuff, and mom's feet were hanging right in the fire. It was literally a nightmare. Mom was sitting there like someone in a mental ward saying what a failure she was as a mother, and Linda, the IRS agent, was telling her no she wasn't. Mom's attorney was busy at the kitchen table arranging for mom to pay rent to the government to stay in her own thirty-year owned home. The Justice Department's need to have a camcorder recording the raid has always puzzled me. "For house content purposes", they said. But during the raid, I was told by Captain Thomas that they were not interested in mom's personal belongings or household contents. "Just the house", he said. I wonder if the camcorder is a clue that shows a lot of the intent of the raid to begin with? I don't know, but... 1. One said the camcorder was being used for house contents, the other said they were not interested in house contents. 2. Camcorders are for taping movement and sound. 3. Contents don't move or makes sounds, so they didn't need a camcorder for contents. 4. The previous threat was to "seize everything...and MAKE HER TELL what she knows about her son." 5. They were thinking mom knew more, or might know where my brother was. 6. A camcorder would be ideal to have going during an overwhelming raid intended to break an old mother down low enough to talk and betray her son. 7. The camcorder was going right in front of her when I walked into the living room. The warrantless searching, mom in her nightgown, her emotional words and facial expressions from the terror of the raid, are probably all on living tape. A copy of which I cannot get. In the meantime, had they found anything potentially incriminating in the house, or found and seized more money mom had saved, they would have claimed that even without a search warrant they acted in "good faith." The Supreme Court has upheld such illegal searches, if the accused cannot prove the law acted in bad faith. From what I previously saw the FBI do in taking mom's $66,000 cash without a search warrant, I now think the $5,000 they found under her mattress during this raid would have been confiscated if mom's attorney had not been standing right there. A week or so following the seizure, the Justice Department man who had been operating the camcorder said to me, "I hope you aren't mad at me, it sure wouldn't have been my style." I will have to say that he and the IRS agent were the only ones to ever show any kind of human compassion throughout the whole case. One local businessman who knew mom and dad for years said, "Boy, they sure are working your mother over." A local police chief said, "What was to be gained doing that to her"? He and I discussed what they had previously threatened while going through my brother's place, and he just shook his head. This was a 30 year veteran police chief of a small town whose reaction about the raid was chided by one of the investigators as, "Big deal, he's never done any more than write a traffic ticket his whole life." If they did what they did to mom to try and force her to talk against her own son, they know more about interrogation methods than they do about protective mothers. If they did it to try and make my brother come back to protect his mother, their own instincts and conscience as sons themselves clouded reality in this case. If they did it thinking mom would beg for herself, they don't know much about old homesteaders. If they did it just to seize her home and properties, one or two gentlemen could have handled mom and the paperwork easily. At 90 pounds and 70 years old she wasn't about to sprint from the house. As men who put their lives in jeopardy fighting real criminals, I do thank these men. But they chose their profession and are being paid for it. For the government, whose job has been made more complex because of the liberal society we evolved into, it must be a nightmare, but in many cases government since the 1960s especially, has been a large part of the problem to begin with. As I said, I tried to get a copy of the camcorder tape that the Justice Department man took, but I couldn't. Video/sound would have been nice to package together with the text I have compiled to hand down in the family in case somebody wants to know what happened to their great, great grandma. Who knows if 100 years from now, in their world, all of this will seem democratic or un- democratic, terrible or mild. What is your guess as to what form of government will evolve? Chapter 19 Mom's Cash Evidence Destroyed By FBI Agent A little later, a half-hour or so into the raid, agent Davis came up to me off to the side, out on the driveway, and asked me if I was going to hire an attorney to try and get mom's cash back. The cash wasn't even on my mind right then. He said he shouldn't say it, but suggested I save my money and NOT try because it would be expensive and probably wouldn't do any good anyway. I didn't catch on to what he was getting at, as I was still numb from what I had just seen. It was all piling up faster than I could shovel. I never could understand why Thomas and Davis did the seizure that way. A person doesn't mind defending himself, but nobody has eyes in the back of their head. When I called the Justice Department man to ask some other questions and I mentioned what a terrible experience the seizure had been, he said, "Charles, I hope you aren't mad at me, it sure wouldn't have been my style." The thing is, I wasn't really mad at anyone. I knew they were having a Miller Fest which was embarrassing enough, but this thing was scary and seemed out of control. The thought "what could a 70 year old mother possibly have done that was wrong or seemed so important that all these grown men had to show up this way?" kept going through my mind. I had been trying all along to get a lot of things on top of the table for everybody so this nightmare could get over with. Mom's attorney told me, "Charles, stay away from those kind of people. They get their methods right out of the Gestapo Handbook. If you don't believe me, go down to the library and look it up." He said, "Those kind of people can find something wrong with anybody if they want to. They believe there are two kinds of people, them and us." He was talking about things I hope never happen in this Country, but I sometimes fear it has already begun again. God save us all. It was only after an attorney was hired for this property seizure, that I found out Davis didn't keep the money he seized from mom, but had instead deposited it into some bank. Mom's attorney said this in effect destroyed her evidence. The old dates on the bills we all saw and discussed that seizure night would have proven it was her old money, not Toby's drug money. I believe other facts like a letter from the bank about her check- cashing habits would have also verified this. That's why I hadn't hired an attorney right away. We were waiting. Now, what Davis had said to me out on the driveway about not hiring an attorney or spending money to try and get mom's cash back started to fit. When mom's attorney found out what Davis did with the cash, he started a bad faith charge against him, but the law says MOM HAD TO PROVE HE ACTED IN BAD FAITH. What a farce. In this civil forfeiture THEY DIDN'T have to prove mom was guilty. Later when mom's attorney was taking depositions from Thomas and Davis, neither could remember any conversation with us about the old dates on mom's money. Also during depositions, mom's attorney asked Davis why he didn't keep the cash as evidence and Davis said he didn't seize the money as evidence, but just as drug money. I have always wondered this... if not as evidence, why did he say they were going to send it to Washington and have it laser tested and get back with us? In Thomas' deposition, he said he would have kept it in an evidence locker. Shortly after mom's attorney found that out, the FBI asked Judge Ferras to have the money case and the property case all thrown into one instead of two separate issues as they were currently. I didn't like that, but Nick said doing that could help or hurt mom, depending on what a jury thought on the whole. Shortly after this, Judge Ferras recommended that they get together with us and try and work something out before it went to trial. He said, "I've set aside a week in January for court, but I suggest you try and get together with these people because it could be dangerous for both parties." Chapter 20 Brass Knuckles and a Derringer The law said mom accepted three or four packages for Toby that showed up unsolicited at her back door over a six year period of time when Toby was coming back and forth from Arizona. Two of those guys said mom counted the bundles of money which were in grocery sacks. I don't know if that is true or not, or if their statements were taken out of context or not. It's actually not the point in this summary, whereas trust and due process are. Mom said she did not count any money, the bags were folded over and stapled shut, and she just put them over at Toby's place like she did all his mail while he was in Arizona. At some time, mom said she did ask one of the guys what was in it, and they just said Toby would know. Mom is alleged to have expressed IF he was doing anything wrong she was fearful about it, but that doesn't lend at all to her giving him permission to do anything. I don't think anyone would ever doubt that my brother wasn't exactly Beaver Clever, but that doesn't make a mother a criminal. Anyway, mom said she also asked Toby what was going on one time when he came back into town and he told her it was none of her business and that the package was for somebody in Arizona. She said she told him he better not be doing anything wrong, and not to be having people drop things off at her house anymore. He said okay, and didn't. Late one afternoon after an appointment with her attorney, mom and I had some extra time and stopped at a cafe for a bite to eat. I asked her why she hadn't leveled with us about the packages Toby had those guys drop off to her. "I couldn't, Charles. The night he fled, he came over to my house drunk and had a pair of brass knuckles and a derringer up to my face and said he'd kill me if I ever said anything about them. He said he bought a camper shotgun, too, and would go out to work tomorrow and kill you (Charles), and everybody else." Mom said he went on to shout some other vulgar, personal things I can't repeat here. I concluded that mom was telling me the truth because the investigators had told me previously that Toby had recently bought a little derringer at a local gun shop. I had never told mom about the gun. Also, the next morning I mentioned to an employee of mine what Toby had done to mom. My employee said he had a run-in with Toby that same night when Toby was drunk at a tavern. When I told Davis about this, he passed it off as nothing. I doubt if Thad Morris (FBI prosecutor) was ever told why mom was scared to say anything about the packages. The day after mom told me why she couldn't tell the investigators or me about the packages in the very beginning, I went up to our aunt's house to see if I could further verify what mom had said. This was the first time I had been in my aunt's house or even spoken to her in many, many years. I asked her if she knew Toby had done that to mom and, if so, why nobody had told me. She said, "Yes, your mom told me, but she didn't want anybody else to know what kind of son she had." She also said, "Toby has been giving your mother a very hard time." I have a gut feeling the aggravation he was giving mom had to do with him not being in the family business. As often as I've felt mom didn't use common sense when it came to Toby, I think in this respect she knew that it would have been the downfall of the business, or more, if he and I had to work together. While at my aunt's house, I had my van parked out front by the curb. As I was talking to her I looked out her living room picture window and all of a sudden five or six cars, following one behind the other, including one four wheel drive, paraded by her normally quiet street. At the same time, although I could hardly believe it, there was a man wearing an orange vest, with a lead dog (also vested I think) coming from the north blind side of her house walking diagonally southeast across her front yard. Toby was on the FBI's fugitive list, and I wondered if her house was being watched for him. He and I look somewhat alike in stature so I was hoping another onslaught wasn't going to happen. If the parade of cars was the law, a call in on my license plates probably prevented them from coming right through the front door with weapons or blasting into the house on a PA system for the whole block's ears. Chapter 21 Newspapers Question Use of Seizure Law Articles in national and local newspapers describing situations about seizures from individuals and businesses around the country were becoming frequent during this time frame. Some were described as being enforced by imaginative investigators and prosecutors. Nobody was giving me any peace of mind in this case, so these articles got me to thinking. On April 18, 1991 in the Chicago Tribune, Stephen Chapman titled his piece, A Weapon in the Drug War and its Innocent Casualties: When drug agents raided three fraternity houses at the University of Virginia a few weeks ago, they confiscated a few bags of marijuana and drugs from students accused of drug dealing. From people who are NOT accused of drug dealing, they took something else, $1 million worth of real estate. The administration wasn't doing enough to stop the kids. March 1, 1993 article on editorial page of paper. Forfeiture Law Unfairly Punishes the Innocent: U.S. Supreme Court ruled last week that the government acted wrongly by not allowing a woman to present information at her house forfeiture trial that she did not know the house her friend bought her was paid for with drug money. Hundreds of cases across the country similar, it said. In 1990, I talked with an attorney named Boe Edwards, who went in front of Congress for the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers to describe what law enforcement was doing with the seizure and forfeiture laws. I explained what had taken place with mom and he said, "Our government is doing this all across our country." On a 60 Minutes television show, a black landscaping man paid for his airline tickets with cash. The ticket agent alerted the DEA, who that day seized the man's business. After viewing this 60 Minutes episode, I asked a travel agent at a local airport here if that was common practice. She said, "Yes." I said, "You mean, if I paid for tickets with cash you would call the law"? She said, "You don't fit the profile." "Does that mean I'm not big and black?" I thought to myself. My brother is white, short haired, good looking and neatly dressed. I'd trust some others before I would him. October 21, 1990 - local newspaper front page color. Seizure Laws Help Police Strike it Rich: Comment from local police officials here, some who are for the forfeiture program, and some from those who have reservations about it as just a means of raising revenue. Chapter 22 Points to Ponder The more that happened and the more articles I read in local and national newspapers, the more curious I got about a lot of things. Sometime after the January 1990 seizure of mom's properties, in the reception area of mom's attorney's office (mom was inside the office with her attorney, Linda and Thomas), FBI agent Davis said to me, "When I first took this case to my boss he told me not to even mess around with it, that it was just another stupid marijuana case -- until I showed him how many assets we could get." However, the only assets gained from Toby were a small certificate of deposit at Broadview Bank, two older vehicles, a few antiques, and some stored household items (I guess from when he sold off his Arizona house). According to FBI prosecutor Thad Morris, they didn't get the $600,000 Toby had in a Mexican bank either, because the bank president ran off with the money and was himself now a fugitive. After that call I made to Thad Morris about why they went ahead and seized her properties when I was just talking to a lady that might be interested in buying them, he said, "I THOUGHT you were just trying to protect your mother." The way he put it didn't dawn on me until after I hung up. I wondered if he knew I was acting in good faith and trust based on already getting the okay from Thomas via Davis to do so? The government said mom gave consent to Toby and/or kept her head in the sand and didn't try hard enough to stop him. Remember, at the cash seizure, while waiting for the fixit man to return and drill open her safe, Thomas, Davis and I went over to the basement at 2030 where Toby supposedly kept marijuana. On the walk back, Thomas said to me that Toby told Brahm, "If mom ever sees us over in the basement of 2030, just tell her we're working on the plumbing." Does that imply Toby was hiding from mom the fact that they were using her properties for drugs? Does that imply she gave Toby consent? Was Thad Morris EVER told that? From mom's income, cash saved and meager spending habits, she had no incentive to involve herself with marijuana money. In 1990, when I asked Thomas on mom's back porch why they were seizing her properties when they said they wouldn't, he said because they came up with more evidence. I assumed he meant the new evidence was they had just been told about mom taking the packages. But, the IRS agent had asked mom if she had ever accepted any packages for Toby during our first meeting with them way back in 1989. Did they know about the packages all along not consider it earth shattering until someone thought I was trying to sell mom's properties? A few days after mom's properties were seized, I was told by one investigator that they were now looking into seizing my 85 year old aunt's house because my brother paid for some porch repairs on it. I said, "You guys are going to look real good, seizing another old lady's house." After the case was over, I asked Thomas why they said in their depositions they didn't remember any conversation with mom and me about all the old dates on mom's cash. He said, "We gave part of it back didn't we"? I mentioned the 1993 Supreme Court seizure ruling to agent Davis one time when I saw him in December 1994, at a Radio Shack, and he said, "So what, we can still put a lien against real property, and the ruling doesn't cover cash." That wasn't the point I was trying to make. One, they knew mom didn't have to be handled like a rogue elephant. And two, I think they know very well what the Constitution says. Chapter 23 News Media Coverage The publicity generated by one hundred and twenty two articles related to the whole Operation Asset ring, naming my brother as kingpin, wasn't exactly a fun experience. It would have been a little less traumatic if the Sheriff's newscaster friend wouldn't have coincidentally been at mom's house with the television crew so they could beat the story and pictures of her house to death every night on the 6:00 news for days and days. Actually three different channels finally got into the act. During the feeding frenzy, what the newspapers did for readers, television did for viewers with footage of mom's residence and duplexes whenever anything came up about the drug ring. In addition to local news media, a national television show did a reenactment of Toby and Susan's part, and a Detective Magazine did a whole story on the case, although I never did see a copy. An ex- policeman told me he'd save it for me, but forgot. My grandson felt he had to get up in front of his class in school and explain that it was not his father who was in trouble. My 14 year old, John, made some remarks to my wife derived from the excess publicity and school talk. One friend of Billy, my 18 year old son, sprinkled pancake flour on our driveway one evening and wrote, Charles - Dope Man. A businessman said in jest one time after I was taking the heat for an attorney who had been hiding his car in his secretary's garage in order to meet with her privately at times, "Sure, just put it off on Charles, the whole family is in drugs anyway." Not! Even though news people were getting some facts wrong about properties, people closer to us were polite enough I guess. When people look at you funny you don't know what they are thinking. Captain Thomas said to me on mom's porch that seizure morning, "People know the difference. You and your wife are pillars of the community." He is well aware of the publicity and my reservations about many things in this case. It was disappointing that the newspapers would never print that mom got back some of her assets, or retract mistakes they had printed which made it sound as though the seized properties belonged to Toby and had been paid for with his drug money. Inaccurate reporting like that is a slap in the face when you've spent your whole life honestly paying off property mortgages. He didn't own a home here in town. He never worked twenty years, saving to put a legitimate down-payment on a home or twenty more making legitimate payments on the mortgage. On one occasion, television news used my wife's name instead of Susan's (Toby's wife). The reporter noticed the mistake before the six o'clock news and changed her copy, but unfortunately, didn't change the carbon copy for the ten o'clock news. In addition to articles which read as though the properties were paid for with drug money, other unclear statements were quoted all the time. Somewhere around the eightieth-plus article, we started to become immune to the publicity and mistakes, and ran out of embarrassment. Mom, a stay-at-home with no outside life at all, has always been able to duck people. Now, six years later, I still get people asking me about mom, or her part, wanting to know if she got any time, or where she finally moved to. Throughout the case, there never was any balanced investigative news reporting. One would think follow-through would be an important part of that profession, especially when people formally contest a seizure. Guilty people seldom contest a seizure, innocent people always do. I kind of wonder if the local news people even realize what is involved in civil forfeiture laws. Good stories are passed up by the news media in areas that take place after the fact. If headlines sell newspapers and the spirit of news reporting is to pass along knowledge, how about focusing on "U.S. Government vs. Grandma", and get into things people aren't aware of. Investigative reporting could find out things law enforcement won't offer and court reports are lacking. For example, would "Agent Destroys Grandma's Cash Evidence", have generated any reader interest? Would, "Kingpin's Mother Gets Back Her Property and Rent", have educated the public or at least given the lady back some pride? After all, she wasn't a criminal. Fully informing readers would go a long way towards helping keep this Country free. I have often wondered if reporters are afraid to get into investigative reporting on some issues. What I mean is, news people often get (the easy part of) their stories right from the law to begin with. They make their living by reporting what the law tells them. It wouldn't be hard to get shut out of scoops. Chapter 24 Effort to Get BAck Mom's Assets After Judge Ferras suggested both sides get together because this case could be dangerous for both parties, a meeting was arranged between FBI seizing attorney, Romerez, a federal judge, mom's attorney Nick Raymond, and myself and mom. The judge said it was his job to listen to both sides discuss the matter, and that he could tell if we could strike a compromise or if it looked like it would have to go to trial. He seemed like a very, very nice gentleman. Romerez said he was willing to give mom $10,000 back, period, and no property. I said no way, that I wanted all of it back. He said he couldn't give back any more than 50%. I said, "You mean you're telling me you've only known her for twenty minutes and you think she is 50% guilty"? He said yes. I told him I've known her 49 years and I know she isn't. The judge smiled. Romerez said he'd give her back $10,000, her house at 2012 - 41st Avenue, and the little white duplex at 2030 - 41st Avenue. I said no. I was raised at 2020 - 41st Avenue and we'd rather have it than 2030. I explained to him that 2030 was a smaller house but was zoned B-3 commercial and worth more than they had appraised it for, and a lot more than 2020. They appraised 2030 at about $23,000 and I told him it was worth about $50,000. He and the judge left the room to talk and came back in. He said okay to that swap, but stood by the $10,000. I told him either mom gets back at least half her cash, her house at 2012 and the 2020 duplex or we'd go to court. He said, $20,000, her house at 2012, and 2020. I looked at Nick and mom. I knew this would end the whole mess, she wouldn't have to go through anymore, and it would probably save her $30,000 in attorney fees. Mom seemed okay about it, so I said "okay", but mom's attorney spoke up and said we wanted a week to think about it. A few days later it dawned on me that mom had been paying them rent to live in her own house all this time. I told mom's attorney I wanted that back, and her bond money she had to post to "claim" her own property, plus the property taxes she paid the City while the properties were in the government's hands. He called Romerez and said, "Charles wants.... Romerez didn't even hesitate, said that was fine, made out all the paperwork and sent it back for mom to sign. I went down to mom's attorney and looked it over. Romerez had put in a paragraph at the bottom we hadn't even discussed. In essence it said mom could never come back on the FBI, Sheriff, or IRS to try and sue them. I said to mom's attorney, if I have mom sign this we couldn't sue them like we had discussed, but mom would be out of this nightmare. With mom's age and her sixth grade education, the mood a jury might be in during this War On Drugs frenzy, and her being so nervous, I didn't think mom should be subjected to a federal prosecutor who undoubtedly could get her pretty upset and confused on the stand. In addition, knowing how protective my mother is of my younger brother, I really didn't want her to make a spectacle of it on the stand. Anyway, I told mom's attorney that if they wanted mom to sign their piece of paper about not coming back on them, then I wanted the same thing put right at the bottom of the page for her. Mom's attorney said he didn't think Judge Ferras would sign something like that. I told him to try it anyway, and to make it broad coverage. He put in it, "From the beginning of the world until (date), they could never come back and talk to or hold mom responsible for anything to do with Toby Miller or Operation Asset." Judge Ferras signed it. By the way, the government eventually sold the property at 2030, for only $12,000. Chapter 25 My Brother's Wife In a discussion with Captain Thomas one day, he said they had more paperwork on my brother's wife than my brother. My brother and his wife nearly ruined mom. His sentence was twenty five years in a federal prison and Susan got a few months and a $500 fine. This is the same woman who once told an employee of mine that she and my brother couldn't wait until mom died so they could be property owners. All I cared to keep relating to her are the following diary files: While my brother was being held at the County jail, he called my oldest son and asked him to give Susan back the refrigerator he had. The refrigerator was one of several household items agent Davis said he didn't want at seizure. I told my son that was nonsense and to keep it because he had paid mom $800 for the refrigerator and a few other items. Mom used most of the $800.00 to buy a garage door opener for herself. My son said that my brother told him the law had put his wife and kids in a welfare state, and that he should do the manly thing by returning the refrigerator to Susan. March 14, 1993: Had a call from a good source tonight. A very nice person. A friend told her that Susan has been trying to be friends with her again. Said Susan intends to divorce Toby and change her name back, but doesn't want Toby to know about it until after he is sentenced and has gone to prison. Said she has some stuff around town being held for her, and intends to change the girls' names back also. If this is true, my brother was a fool to tell her he would take the blame for everything. I told mom about this and mom said she had a hunch about it herself, but thinks Toby could handle it better once he is in prison, rather than learning it now. I do not agree, but I don't know what to do yet. March 18, 1993: Although I haven't been down to the jail to see my brother, I am leaning towards going down and telling him about this. This issue is separate from all the problems involving him over the past 25 years. In a few weeks he will be sentenced to prison for a long time, and for him to go not knowing that his wife intends to dump him just isn't right. My brother told her to tell the law everything she could in order to make herself the best deal and that he would take all the blame. Susan has been bragging that she will get off with a light sentence because of it. From what I've been told, the investigators weren't happy with the sentence Susan got, but the court didn't want responsibility for the kids. March 20, 1993: Mom said she told my brother about all of this, but he doesn't believe it. May 6, 1993: Mom said Toby and Susan got a divorce last Thursday. May 7, 1993: I asked Thomas if Toby is still in town and he said no, that he had been sent to some other town and from there he will go to a federal prison somewhere. Thomas said Toby didn't get any notice and got white as a sheet when they came to get him. He said Toby didn't have a chance to make any goodbye phone calls. Chapter 26 Mom Knowing the co-dependency between mom and my brother since he was little, I fully concede that if I were an investigator listening to mom talk about my brother (excuses, hedging, protecting, procrastinating, stalling, rationalizing or justifying), I would probably want to scream. That very same thing cracked this family apart many years ago, and I doubt the investigators liked it for even ten minutes. That isn't meant as an indictment of mom being guilty or innocent about anything in the case, for no matter what age he was, 12 years old or 42 years old, it has always been that way. It certainly didn't begin with the investigators, nor has it ended since. In a short conversation with me, concerning the obvious family relationship strain, at the FBI office one day when I was trying to explain some things, the agent mentioned he didn't think mom had a very warm motherly disposition. I assured him it wasn't always that way, but life does things to people. He didn't say or mean it derogatorily, and it had nothing to do with the letter of the law, but nevertheless I think investigators just by the nature of their profession are guided by things that give them gut feelings. None of mom's talks with them were very conducive to them believing her. Mom should have told the investigators about those packages she took of my brother's when they first asked her. There's nothing wrong with taking packages that came to her door, but not being up front about it made her look bad. Put in the position of protecting one's son from the law, and the other son from him, what would a lot of mothers have done? Chapter 27 My Brother I am not going to stick up for what Toby was doing, but considering he sold marijuana, a twenty-five year federal sentence isn't exactly a light sentence, when child molesters are given, or serve much less time in prison. However, it never seemed to bother Toby, disrupting other people's lives for twenty five years, or in the end, having the whole family sucking pond water trying to defend long family honor. He'll certainly have time to practice his excuses to God. A long time ago, dad mailed my brother and me each a little plaque with a saying on it that I thought was pretty good. It concerned me when Toby said he threw his in the waste paper basket. MILLER "You got it from your father, it was all he had to give. So it's yours to use and cherish, for as long as you may live. If you lose the watch he gave you, it can always be replaced. But a black mark on your name son, can never be erased. It was clean the day you got it, and a worthy name to bear. When he got it from his father, there was no dishonor there. So make sure you guard it wisely, after all is said and done. You'll be glad the name is spotless, when you give it to your son. As for how Toby got by with what he was doing for so long around here I can only make educated guesses. To begin with, his customers were not kids who had to rob convenient stores to afford drugs, as one person wrote in to say. Nor, as the same article stated, is Toby comparable to a child sex molester. That is ridiculous. His customers, from what I learned during the case, were adults who could easily afford to pay him $1200 to $1500 a pound for high grade marijuana called something like, sensomelia. Those people were consenting adults who could afford to own convenient stores if they wanted to. Toby, and quite a few people around here were familiar with each other from high school and the 1960s college days when many took pot for granted in those circles as a semi-legal drug. It's my guess, as they eventually spread out into their own various professions around here, and I am speaking of some lawyers, businessmen, doctors, accountants, even some in law enforcement, that familiarity is what made Toby's business a success. Over the years, Toby was caught locally twice and once out of town. A local policeman told me that he got the charges dismissed for Toby each time with someone well known around here. Since my brother has been in prison, I found it interesting that he called another important figure around here who is about his same age, and asked him if he could influence anyone to get his sentence lowered. During the investigation, just for the heck of it, I mentioned to one professional in town who had been a life-long friend of my brother's, that the law was looking into some of Toby's customers. He laughed and said, "They'd have to arrest half the town." I told Captain Thomas one time, "There are authorities who have known about Toby for years. Where were they when we needed their help? Why couldn't they help us stop him? If they had helped then, maybe none of this would have happened." He said, "Well I didn't know it!" I believe him. Chapter 28 Not Clearing Mom When Toby called me one time while he was on the run, he said he told the investigators (during an arranged call he made to try and make a deal with them for his wife) that mom didn't know anything about his drug ring. I don't know if what he told them was in their reports to the prosecutor or not, but based on what I saw later in court on another defendant, I doubt it. I told my brother at the time, that what he told THEM during the call, probably wasn't going to do mom any good. I told him he needed to say it publicly whether the law believed him or not. One day, I mentioned to Thomas that maybe Toby would say something to lessen the public impact on mom's name when the judge gave him a chance to talk at his sentencing. Thomas said, "That sure would be his chance to do it!" But he didn't do it. Later, Toby gave a one-on-one private interview titled, Life On The Lam, to a newspaper woman about himself. It was a perfect opportunity to publicly vindicate his own mother, but the article said nothing. Toby had another good chance the time he testified in court on behalf of someone who really had been part of the drug ring. On the witness stand, Toby said he had told the one investigator this guy hadn't dealt drugs for years (past the statute of limitations). It never got into the investigator's report. The judge admonished the investigator, but it didn't do the guy any good. This was the third time Toby had a chance to let the newspapers know that mom didn't know about his drug ring and had not given him permission to use her property for his drug business, but he didn't do it. While Toby was attempting to be chivalrous for his wife by telling her that he would take all the blame, she was planing to ditch him. Yet for mom, who would never turn her back on him, who even withstood the effort of 20 men to get her to betray him, Toby never said a vindicating word that I ever read or heard where it would have counted the most, in the courtroom and newspaper. I doubt if the judge would have given him more than the twenty five year sentence even if he had spoken out of turn in the court room. Who knows, the judge might have even given him less years just for sticking up for his mother. I have the feeling this judge is quite perceptive and was thinking many things when he last said to my brother, ..."and how much harm you did to others is impossible to assess." Chapter 29 Getting Around the Supreme Court Ruling? I believe it was Thomas Jefferson who said, "A democracy is one of the shortest lived types of government known to mankind, unless it is revered by God fearing people who keep ever constant vigilance over those to whom they entrust power." In 1993, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that our Constitution affords its citizens due process of law including a meaningful hearing BEFORE seizing "real property" for civil forfeiture. Based on this ruling from the highest court in our land, federal prosecutors had to start dismissing cases they had not given due process of law. Later, in a Justice Department newsletter sent out to all federal prosecutors, an official was quoted as telling them, "not to worry about the Supreme Court victories for forfeiture reform, as the ever creative Department of Justice would find a way to get around them." (reprint taken from a F.E.A.R. Chronicles article). To me, the words "ever creative" imply a past, present, and on- going effort to get around what the Supreme Court says our Constitution guarantees its citizens: due process of law, the most revered spirit in our Constitution. "Citizens" means everyone, criminal and non-criminal. Even if occasionally a criminal gets by with something, if the law doesn't work for the criminal it won't work for us either. I hope, after reading the Justice Department official's words, that prosecutors are not also misusing "probable cause" and "good faith" in their endeavor to stop crime. As much as we all want to stop crime, bending the rules on a few basic rights will only lead human nature to bend the rules on more basic rights. If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?" (Psalms 11:3) In defense of government but not as an excuse for it, trying to govern an orderly society ever since the 1960's failed social experiment has no doubt been a nightmare regardless whose fault it was to begin with. That era has caused more backlashes for government, schools, churches, and homes, than any time I can remember since I was born in 1940. In the interim, we have also become spiritually, domestically, and Constitutionally lazy. In the name of some idealistic theories, this Country traded in what was, for the most part, a peaceful, God-fearing and sound society, for skyrocketing crime, drugs, dependency, illegitimacy, and spiritual and fiscal weakness. We are continuing down the slope by making excuses or trying to justify or explain away wrong-doings, instead of condemning wrong- doings. Instead of returning to what worked in the past, a system primarily set up for individual responsibility and limited government power, we are only chasing the problems by trying to solve them with more tax money and government micromanaging everything in our lives. It should worry citizens of this Country that our Founding Fathers worked hard for our freedoms, inch by inch, but in our life-times, we are seeing many taken away inch by inch. Aside from the larger issues, how has it become a main focus in government to spend so much time and money on other smaller issues that common sense tells us should be handled in the free marketplace or by the laws of nature? It amazes me that child proof lighters, labels, do and don't charts, and a burr on an end table, are so important to government that it sets up large bureaucracies to study and do nothing more than come up with more ideas or laws for individual safety, health and governing our lives. It seems like one of every two television channels has an orchestrated news flash of some bureaucrat up on the podium announcing another new revelation they've come up with. No wonder we owe $6 trillion dollars and citizens are being tapped for money and strapped for freedom. How can we live to be a 150 years old when people can't even afford to live to be 80 after paying for all the excessive programs and social entitlements? We will reach a point not too far off in time, when the younger citizens will not be taking enough money home to support their own families even in modest fashion because of it. Government has to quit thinking citizens are not smart enough to make it on their own if left alone. If they think we are so dumb that we do not realize food has to be refrigerated and cooked, we are in trouble. Chapter 30 Cash There seems to be an elation on the part of law enforcement, that the 1993 U.S. Supreme Court ruling providing for a pre-seizure hearing, didn't cover cash, only real property. Considering what I explained above about how the FBI seized mom's cash and then destroyed her ability to defend herself in court because she couldn't present the old dates on the bills, I think including cash in forfeiture reform is very important. Mom's case isn't an isolated one, and I'm sure Congress wouldn't be scheduling more hearings on forfeiture unless by sheer numbers they have seen enough credible examples and documentation to consider reforms on real and personal property civil forfeiture law. Some very good citizens are scared to have or spend cash these days because the confiscation practice has been getting national attention in the newspapers and on television. In an April 1995 Reader's Digest article titled, Is it Police Work or Plunder, a federal prosecutor was quoted as saying, "Knowing what is going on today in civil forfeiture," he was scared when stopped for a traffic violation because he had $300 on him. By the nature of his profession, one assumes this gentleman knows what is going on. Where is there any "probable cause" in that scenario for worrying about someone questioning your $300 in cash? How far has this thing gone? Has the phrase "probable cause" evolved into meaningless protection for citizens? Under current forfeiture laws, "probable cause" is all that is required to seize property. That is the same, low standard of proof required to obtain a search warrant. And, rank hearsay is admissible as probable cause. People in this Country are entitled to proof beyond a reasonable doubt before they are ruined. If rubberbanded cash is indeed now "probable cause" for seizure, I humorously imagine some of the more frugal part of our society getting into their next Great Depression money under the mattress and taking off the rubberbands. Why should any American today have to be afraid of what officer friendly is going to make out of something that years ago wouldn't have even raised an eyebrow, except maybe out of personal jealousy? There are millions of legitimate businesses that use cash everyday, millions of situations where checks are not accepted because too many people write out NSF checks, and millions of people who don't like or are unable to run an efficient checkbook. It ought not be any of the government's business what a person does with their own money, whether it be one dollar or a million dollars. Citizens can't help it if the law finds cash at drug busts. But we can have a law that stops paranoia and ruins a lot of innocent people or makes