San Bernardino County sheriff’s deputies accused of illegally seizing $1 million from armored vehicles
San Bernardino County CA Jan 22, 2022
A Pennsylvania armored car company that transports proceeds from licensed cannabis businesses to banks alleges in a lawsuit that San Bernardino County sheriff’s deputies confiscated more than $1 million in cash deposits within the past two months during a pair of illegal roadside seizures.
“This is nothing but highway robbery using badges,” said Dan Alban, a senior attorney for the Institute for Justice, a Virginia-based law firm representing Empyreal Logistics.
“Empyreal is transporting proceeds from legal businesses to financial institutions. These seizures don’t stop crime or improve public safety; they just enrich these agencies, which get to split the proceeds from civil forfeiture.
“These funds are only being seized because of that profit incentive. And that’s not remotely legal or constitutional.”
The lawsuit, filed last week in U.S. District Court, names as defendants San Bernardino County Sheriff Shannon D. Dicus, U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland, FBI Director Christopher Wray and Anne Milgram, administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration. Officials with the Sheriff’s Department, the FBI, U.S. Attorney’s Office and DEA declined to comment.
The lawsuit demands that the defendants stop targeting Empyreal for what the company claims are illegal seizures. In addition to serving marijuana businesses, Empyreal also provides cash transport services to financial institutions, restaurants, and convenience stores in 28 states.
The San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department leads the Inland Regional Narcotics Enforcement Team, which also includes state and federal agencies such as the DEA and FBI, Alban said.
Through the U.S. Department of Justice’s equitable sharing program, the Sheriff’s Department’s participation in IRNET enables it to receive up to 80% of the proceeds recovered from civil forfeitures, including those seized from Empyreal, Alban said. IRNET has received nearly $18 million in equitable sharing funds since 2016, according to the Department of Justice.
Without the equitable sharing program, the Sheriff’s Department would be unable to seize or keep any of the money confiscated from Empyreal under state law because the cash proceeds are from a legal business, Alban said.
Though both medicinal and recreational marijuana are legal in California, the federal government classifies all marijuana, along with heroin and cocaine, as an illegal Schedule I drug with a high potential for abuse and little or no medical benefits. That means an individual could be charged with a federal crime for activities that are legal under state law.
The San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department and the federal government are attempting to exploit the conflict between state and federal laws governing marijuana to their advantage, Alban said.
“But neither one has independent authority to seize state-legal medical cannabis proceeds,” he added. “The sheriff can’t go after state-legal businesses and the feds aren’t allowed to expend federal funds disrupting the state-legal medical cannabis industry. So they’re each trying to bootstrap their way around the laws that govern them. None of it makes sense, but they think they’ll confuse their way to validity.”
According to the lawsuit, San Bernardino County sheriff’s deputies have stopped three Empyreal armored vehicles within the past eight weeks, seizing a total of about a $1 million from two of them. The vehicles carried cash belonging to eight licensed marijuana businesses and were pulled over on flimsy pretexts that did not result in a citation or arrest, Alban said.
“The sheriff’s department was just waiting for the armored vehicles to go by,” he added. “That’s not what law enforcement should be doing. It should be focused on preventing crime, not generating revenue.”
The lawsuit alleges that on Nov. 16, San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Deputy Jonathan Franco conducted a traffic stop of an Empyreal driver for allegedly driving too close to a semi-truck on the freeway, the suit says.
Franco first asked the driver what the vehicle was transporting and, after learning it was carrying cash, inquired further about the nature of Empyreal’s business, the lawsuit says.
The driver answered Franco’s questions and phoned Empyreal’s leadership team, which includes a senior vice president who is a former deputy sheriff, according to the lawsuit.
“Empyreal’s leadership team explained to deputy Franco the legitimacy of the business, where the cash was coming from and where it was going, the identity and licensure of the companies whose cash was being transported, and offered GPS data to confirm this information,” says the suit.
Franco was soon joined by other law enforcement personnel, who allegedly covered the vehicle’s external cameras and seized the driver’s business and personal cellphones.
According to a copy of a search warrant obtained by the Southern California News Group, the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department alleges it was entitled to seize $700,000 in cash from the vehicle because there was probable cause to believe a felony had been committed.
Alban said the Sheriff’s Department has not turned over a probable cause affidavit for the search detailing the suspected felony.
The deputies congratulated each other after counting the money confiscated from the armored vehicle with statements such as, “Wowee,” “way to go” and “good job,” the suit states.
The same group of deputies, purportedly including Franco, seized $350,000 from another Empyreal vehicle on Dec. 9 without obtaining a search warrant, says the suit.
“You don’t remember me, do you?” one of the deputies asked the driver, according to audio captured by the vehicle’s recording system. “I remember you.”
Another deputy allegedly told the driver he had the right to seize the cash payload because it was connected to drug profits.
As the deputies counted the money inside the vehicle, one officer seemed disappointed, saying, “This is, uh, more small,” apparently comparing the amount to that seized on Nov. 16, the suit says.
After the counting was completed, a deputy remarked he thought they’d get “a million or two,” while another deputy responded, “At least we got over a million,” likely in reference to the combined totals of the two seizures, says the suit.
On Jan. 6, an Empyreal vehicle was again stopped and searched by San Bernardino County deputies. However, the vehicle was only carrying coins from a non-cannabis business that the deputies declined to seize, the suit states.
When the driver asked one of the deputies why Empyreal was being targeted, the deputy allegedly responded it was “political” but declined to elaborate.
Additionally, law enforcement officers in Dickinson County, Kansas, seized $165,620 in cash on May 18, 2021, from an Empyreal vehicle and turned the money over to the DEA, according to the suit.
Empyreal has since suspended operations in San Bernardino County and Kansas. As a goodwill gesture, it also has reimbursed the marijuana businesses for the monetary losses, Chief Executive Officer Deirdra O’Gorman said Wednesday.
“We are scratching our head as to what might have gone sideways,” she said. “We typically have a great relationship with law enforcement. We are hoping this is a big misunderstanding and when facts come to light we can turn this relationship around.”
SBSUN
