Michigan Police Seize Man's Property Over Medical Marijuana: "face-Masked, Jack-Booted Thugs"

[purple pimpernel]

 

Michigan Police Seize Man's Property Over Medical Marijuana: "Face-Masked, Jack-Booted Thugs"

Posted on December 6, 2014

 

 

 

The Mackinac Center for Public Policy documents Michigan State Police using civil asset forfeiture to freeze the bank accounts and take the property of two men for months without even charging them with a crime.

 

One man, Wally Kowalski, who grows medical marijuana to distribute to low-income people who use the substance, shares his story of police raiding his property and destroying his plants, which were in a secured garden enclosed by a barbed-wire fence. Kowalski notes the police only seized evidence that had value which would later be sold at a police auction.

 

According to Reason, Kowalski said the police were giddy after searching his house to find his financial papers.

 

"When they found my bank accounts here in my office, they let out a yell. They said, "Here's the bank accounts, we got him.' It's like the happiest thing for them, to find my bank accounts," Kowalski said.

 

Authorities also froze his bank accounts.

 

>>Last year, according to the Mackinac Center, law enforcement raised over >>$20,000,000 from seizing personal property in Michigan.

 

 

 

 

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2014/12/06/michigan_police_seize_mans_property_over_medical_marijuana_face-masked_jack-booted_thugs.html

[trichcycler]

is this the guy that owned a dispensary?

[pic book]

if it is, that is quite germane

[bobandtorey]

$20,000,000  from seizing personal property in Michigan.

 

I Tell people all the time when they take your stuff and even if your case get dismissed a few times you still do not get it back most just don't believe me 

 

until it happens to them i will never be the same because of it

[bobandtorey]

story for being a medical marijuana user and having his property seized and money taken by police without being charged with a crime was arrested at 2 a.m. the next morning by the Michigan State Police within a day after the story was published.

Wally Kowalski says he was woken Wednesday to find the police at his door with a felony warrant. He was handcuffed and brought to the Van Buren County Jail where he spent the night in a cold cell without a pillow or blanket. He was arraigned in the morning and released after posting $1,000 on a $10,000 bond.

The police charged Kowalski with delivery and manufacture of 5 to 45 kilograms of marijuana, between 20 and 200 plants, a 7-year felony and/or carrying up to a $500,000 fine. He was also charged with distribution without remuneration, a misdemeanor.

Kowalski carries a medical marijuana card for himself and says he is the caregiver for four other valid cardholders. When police searched his house on Sept. 2, they could not find two caregiver cards. Kowalski says he lost the cards but did get replacements days later and turned them over to the police.

Under Michigan’s medical marijuana law, he is legally allowed to grow 12 plants per person. According to the seizure order, police found 55 plants.

When Kowalski asked if his arrest has anything to do with the report, he said police told him they have never heard of the publication.

“Originally, the detective on the case told me he would call me if they issued an arrest warrant so I could submit voluntarily. I can’t see the necessity of arresting me in the middle of the night,” Kowalski said.

His attorney, Daniel Grow thought the overnight arrest was unusual, as well.

“On these kinds of charges, I get most of my clients in during the day when the courts are opened and they can avoid a night’s stay in jail,” Grow said.

The commander of the Southwest Enforcement Team, Lieutenant Wayne Eddington, did not return a call for comment.

Michigan Capitol Confidential began inquiring about civil asset forfeitures on Nov. 7. Eddington did return a phone call and spoke about forfeitures in general terms but was not asked about specific cases. On Nov. 21, Michigan Capitol Confidential called the Van Buren County Clerk for a copy of Kowalski’s petition for seizure order. On Nov. 24-26, Michigan Capitol Confidential left messages for Special Prosecutor Cory Johnson, Eddington and the media representative at the Michigan State Police about discussing specific cases. None of the calls were returned. On Nov. 24, police got the arrest warrant on Kowalski. Three days later, they released the hold on his bank accounts. He was arrested Dec. 4. Kowalski is scheduled to appear in court Dec. 15 and Dec. 17.

[Wild Bill]

Kowalski said the police were giddy after searching his house to find his financial papers.

 

"When they found my bank accounts here in my office, they let out a yell. They said, "Here's the bank accounts, we got him.' It's like the happiest thing for them, to find my bank accounts," Kowalski said.

 

Same here. When they raided me and found money in my pocket Porky yelled, "We've got cash!".

[trichcycler]

if it is, that is quite germane

"The summons and complaint in the Williams case and the petition for seizure order in the Kowalski case give some clues to what triggered these particular raids and seizures of property. The case against Williams describes an earlier raid on a marijuana dispensary in Battle Creek, one hour from his home.

 

“I used to run a compassion club (there) three years ago and somehow they got my name off a piece of paper from when I rented the building and they took it to the judge and said I was (an) agent for a dispensary and they got a warrant to raid my house,” Williams said."

 

 

 

 

http://www.michigancapitolconfidential.com/20782

 

In the summons and complaint, which describes a sting of the dispensary, there is no mention of Williams engaging in illegal distribution. In fact, one witness stated that he “had turned the business of the Battle Creek Compassionate Center over” to Mr. William’s son and the witness and the father had nothing to do with the dispensary for months.

[trichcycler]

Ding ding ding. ^^^^

 

Does anyone know how many time this "no arrest/property forfeiture" has occurred in our state or all states??

 

 

this man is suffering a gross injustice imo.

[bobandtorey]

I agree grassmatch 

 

They take your stuff and your Kid's if you don't have any Kid's they will charge you wife theirs  a case right now in the S.C when a husband was growing and the wife was not she is being charged just for being around cannabis