'I’m getting robbed': How a Nebraska county 'perfected the practice' of stealing millions from civilians

16 June 2023

Nebraska's Seward County police rake in millions of dollars from traffic stops, Flatwater Free Press reports.

Per Flatwater, during these stops, "money is routinely seized without anyone being charged or proven guilty of anything," through a practice called "civil asset forfeiture."

According to a 2015 American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) Nebraska report, "Civil forfeiture allows police to seize — and then keep or sell — any property they suspect may be involved in a crime."

Flatwater reports the county's "sheriff's department has specialized in and perfected the practice" of civil asset forfeiture, "despite a 2016 law meant to ban it" in the state, adding, "one out of every three civil forfeiture cases in Nebraska's state courts happens in Seward County, according to a Flatwater Free Press analysis."

ACLU Nebraska notes, "Civil asset forfeiture reform is an emerging public policy issue due to recent well-publicized incidents indicating abuse of the process and the real life impact on everyday people in Nebraska. This issue is one that has found broad bipartisan support across the political spectrum and the same should hold true in the great state of Nebraska."

Furthermore, the organization says, "We believe the current landscape for civil asset forfeiture laws can lead to abuse and that too many innocent people are being caught up in forfeiture seizures."

For example, just "minutes" after Seward County deputies pulled Christopher Bouldin over in August of 2020, Flatwater reports, he was left "standing with his dog on the westbound shoulder."

The officers assumed the $18,000 "cash rolled up in a blue sleeping bag in his backseat" was "drug money," while Bouldin insisted the funds were for his "trip to Colorado."

In order to "avoid arrest," losing his dog to the pound, possible "felony charges," and a towed vehicle, the Virginia resident was instructed to give up the $18,000 and given a form to sign.

"I can't believe I'm getting robbed," Bouldin said. "They were trying really hard for me to sign that."

Flatwater reports over "the past five years, Seward County law enforcement has hauled in $7.5 million from forfeitures, according to county financial records and Department of Justice annual reports."

University of Pennsylvania law professor Louis Rulli commented, "Citizens can have their property taken from them without ever being accused of a crime, or convicted of a crime, and that is simply not our American system of justice. It's led to so many abuses."

Flatwater Free Press' full report is available at this link. ACLU Nebraska's report is here.

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