Cops Seize Man's Property, Freeze Bank Accounts—And He Wishes They Would Charge Him with a Crime
Robby Soave|Dec. 3, 2014 11:20 am

KowalskiMackinac Center / Youtube
Wally Kowalski, an engineer living in a farmhouse in rural southwest Michigan, came home one day last September to find his property swarming with cops. They told him that they had spotted his marijuana plants from a helicopter. Kowalski has a license to grow and distribute medical pot to several low-income people who depend on the drug. He grows the plants in a garden area enclosed by a barbed wire fence.

But whether or not Kowalski had a legal right to grow mattered little to the state police, who seized his power generator—even though it had nothing to do with his marijuana plants—and some expensive equipment. They also destroyed the plants.

Kowalski told the Mackinac Center for Public Policy that they grabbed anything likely to be sold at a police auction. He said they were positively giddy after searching his house and finding 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."

The police froze his accounts, rendering him unable to make payments on his student loans or other bills. And he could no longer complete the immigration process for his wife, a resident of Africa.

The authorities haven't charged Kowalski with a crime. They didn't even confiscate his marijuana license—probably because it has no auction value. He wishes they would—at least then he could defend himself in court, in front of a judge or jury. As things stand, he's unsure what he's supposed to do to convince the police to give him back his property.

After the Mackinac Center drew publicity to the case, the state unfroze Kowalski's assets. But his property is still in police custody.

Thomas Williams, another southwest Michigan resident, suffered a similar ordeal. His medical marijuana activities prompted police to ransack his property while they left him handcuffed for 10 hours. The cops took his car, phone, TV, and cash. Afterward, he had no means of getting to the grocery store or even contacting another human being for days. Like Kowalski, he hasn't been charged with a crime.

That was over a year ago. The police still have his stuff.

The Mackinac Center interviewed both men for a video spotlighting the abuses of police forfeiture. Watch that below. [Edit: The video has been fixed and will now play properly.] Read more from Reason on the subject here.

At least they didn't put him in a chokehold and kill him.

😟

Gateway drug...

wheel,

Not cool at all. How is it legal to confiscate ANYTHING without being charged with a crime?

Three Letters
IRS..


wheel,

Still must be charged with a crime... such as tax evasion.

Nope 5 letters: Taxes.

The point I am trying to make is this: How can they justify taking anything from anyone without first charging them with a crime?

If they take their stuff, there MUST be a reason. BEFORE they can take their stuff, they MUST tell them the reason. Cops can't legally come onto your property without a search warrant. How can they possibly take your stuff without a similar process?

If no charges were ever filed, how can they confiscate property? What is the justification?

Taxes? Okay, fine... you must be told what you owe and given the opportunity to pay it, right? OR - barring that opportunity, charged with a crime and taken to court, right?

They took dude's sh*t and never filed a charge. I'm not okay with that.

You know Tony Stewart or Jamis Winston had something to do with this (plus an illegal alien or two, and an bigade of ebola infected isis folk who came through the mexican border)

And no I'm not ok with it but it makes me want more detail because there has to be more to the story (IE it doesn't add up). If this is all there is to the story it is turrible to quote the round mound of rebound.

I'm calling bull**** . . . It's widely known that we have a gold-plated welcome mat for Africans to immigrate.

Teedubya I don't have anything to add to this particular case but this isn't an isolated type of action.

ZRX this medium warps intent. I'm thinking this is so absurd it can not be fully true. If we were in a verbal conversation you would get that I am questioning the absurdity rather than the truth.

I always look to does it make sense or is there something missing. SOmetimes there is nothing missing and it still doesn't make sense. In those cases somehting should be done.

I still can't help but think something is missing, but it is very possible it isn't.

I have a hard time arguing against your point....

But we've experienced very similar events here locally where one person on premises has a warrant out and the police seized and destroyed property. My main concern isn't this particular case per say but the wrongful theft and sale of private property. California has really taken to doing this to cover their spending btw .

This happens more frequently than you think.

Where's the due process in these seizure cases?



Police departments everywhere will fight tooth and nail against every effort to legalize or decriminalize any and all drugs, for the simple reason that they will no longer be able to go shopping at the drug dealers house anymore if the drugs are legalized. Most police agencies stand to lose tremendously, if they could no longer seize the assets of drug dealers for the benefit of the department.



I look forward to the day that the war on drugs is over, and the underground drug dealers are all out of business. If only we as a country could use all of the money we waste in fighting the war on drugs, instead, on the rehabilitation services of those hooked on dugs, drug education/ counseling, and regulation of the distribution of legal drugs, clean needle programs etc..


I know my view isn't popular, and I'm not an anarchist. I just think our approach to controlling drugs in this country has been an abysmal failure, and it is far time that we try the same approach that was used to eradicate those pesky alcohol bootleggers.

Making it legal apparanly isn't enough. According to the op it is legal in this case.

And if weed is legal selling loosies may not be.

+1

Stogiemonger... I agree with you.