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US: WI: Suit Seeks Bail Money Seized For Drug Scent
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v04/n1101/a08.html
Newshawk: Is My Medicine Legal YET? www.immly.org
Votes: 0
Pubdate: Tue, 03 Aug 2004
Source: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (WI)
Copyright: 2004 Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Contact: jsedit@onwis.com
Website: http://www.jsonline.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/265
Author: David Doege
SUIT SEEKS BAIL MONEY SEIZED FOR DRUG SCENT
Waukesha - The Waukesha County Sheriff's Department should release $25,000
seized when a trained dog detected the smell of narcotics on the cash after
it was posted as bail for a man arrested on drug charges, the man's lawyer
contends in a lawsuit filed Monday.
According to attorney Donna J. Kuchler, the money was paid by acquaintances
of Fidel Ortega Robles last month, and deputies at the Waukesha County Jail
conducted the investigation with the drug-sniffing dog because it was cash.
That type of seizure is illegal, according to Kuchler, because dog sniff
tests are not credible evidence of illegal drug sales or use. She said
nothing has been established to link Robles or those who posted the cash,
who Kuchler said were "friends and relatives," to the money or to any crime.
Kuchler filed the lawsuit in Waukesha County Circuit Court. It asks for a
hearing on her request to have the seized funds released, which was set for
Aug. 26 before Waukesha County Circuit Judge Mark S. Gempeler.
Robles, 50, was arrested last winter in Illinois on a Wisconsin warrant
alleging cocaine trafficking charges that was issued against him in Waukesha
County Circuit Court in October 2001. On July 12, bail for Robles was set
at $25,000, an amount subsequently posted to gain his release but eventually
seized, according to court records.
Kuchler says in the petition filed Monday that federal court rulings have
"held that law enforcement officials are prohibited from seizing funds based
primarily on the fact that a person has a large sum of cash, even where a
drug dog sniff has detected residue."
Robles "remains incarcerated for no other reason than that a drug dog picked
up cocaine traces on six of the many bills submitted as part of the
petitioner's bail payment," Kuchler says.
A spokesman for the Sheriff's Department did not return a call Monday
seeking comment on the seizure.
Robles is due to return to court on Aug. 23 on the cocaine charges. He
remained in custody in the jail Monday.
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MAP posted-by: Larry Seguin
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Mark
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