![]() Californian’ newspaper, The Orange County Register, reported on an intriguing story of the US Government returning over a million dollars to an armored car company who was transporting the cash for a licensed cannabis company. On Wednesday of this week the U.S. Department of Justice confirmed that it will give back $1.1 million to Empyreal Logistics armored car company for funds seized in November of 2021. As a result of the settlement, Empyreal has agreed to drop their federal lawsuit against the Justice Department, the FBI and the DEA. The story’s not over though! Empyreal still has an active lawsuit against the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department who were the ones who actually conducted the cash seizure. Empyreal’s lawsuit against the Sheriff’s department alleges that San Bernadino’s officers engaged in “highway robbery” by illegally seizing cash they knew came from state-legal marijuana businesses. According to the lawsuit, within a period of eight weeks, San Bernardino County sheriff’s deputies stopped three Empyreal armored vehicles carrying cash belonging to state licensed marijuana businesses, seizing a combined total of about a $1 million from two of them. The vehicles were pulled over on flimsy pretexts that did not result in any citations or arrests. According to a copy of a search warrant obtained by the Southern California News Group, the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department claims it was entitled to seize cash because there was probable cause to believe a felony had been committed. Dan Alban, a senior attorney for the Institute for Justice, a Virginia-based law firm representing Empyreal Logistics, said the Sheriff’s Department has not turned over a probable cause affidavit for the search detailing the suspected felony. Alban said the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department and the federal government were 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.” 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, according to Alban. 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, he said. Since 2016, IRNET has obtained nearly $18 million in equitable sharing funds, according to the Department of Justice. Alban also said, “The sheriff’s department was just waiting for the armored vehicles to go by, … That’s not what law enforcement should be doing. It should be focused on preventing crime, not generating revenue.” He added, “If the sheriff were actually concerned about illegal activity by cannabis dispensaries, he would investigate them, get a warrant, and then raid them and shut them down... He would not wait on the side of the road to rob armored vehicles taking bank deposits to financial institutions. These seizures do nothing to prevent any alleged illegal grow operations. They only serve to put more money in the coffers of his department.” According to the lawsuit, on Nov. 16, 2021, San Bernardino County sheriff’s Deputy Jonathan Franco conducted a traffic stop of an Empyreal vehicle for allegedly driving too close to a semi-truck on the freeway. They state that Officer Franco first asked the Empyreal driver what the vehicle was transporting and, after learning it was carrying cash, inquired further about the nature of Empyreal’s business. 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. As the deputies counted the money inside the vehicle, one officer seemed disappointed, saying, “This is, uh, more small,” apparently comparing the amount of cash to that seized during the previous traffic stop, according to the complaint. The San Bernadino Sheriff, Shannon D. Discus, wrote on Facebook and Twitter and said, “Over 80% of marijuana at dispensaries was grown illegally.” However when asked, the Sheriff’s Department did not respond to a request to provide evidence backing the claim that more than 80% of marijuana at dispensaries is grown illegally, and it is unclear how Sheriff Dicus arrived at that statistic. Sheriff Dicus has also described Empyreal’s lawsuit as a blatant attempt to “interfere with ongoing local criminal investigations,” but when asked, the Sheriff’s Department did not provided details on the investigations with which Empyreal is purported to have interfered. So again, it's very interesting that the federal government (Justice Department, FBI, and DEA) has settled with Empyreal and agreed to return all funds, but the lawsuit against the San Bernadino Sheriff’s Office is still ongoing. This will be one case to watch. Empyreal’s CEO, Deirdra O’Gorman, spoke about the necessary service her company provides to an industry forced to deal in cash, thanks to the lack of government help. She said “Our service increases transparency and makes communities safer. Empyreal is committed to continuing our mission of working with financial institutions and their state-legal business customers.” Comments are closed.
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