Victory! California police agree to stop stealing cannabis cash from armored trucks
Was this real life or a Super Troopers outtake?
Late last year, sheriff’s deputies in Southern California’s San Bernardino County — the largest county in the United States — stopped armored trucks and stole over $1 million worth of legal cannabis money on three separate occasions.
Due to federal prohibition and statewide banking laws, cannabis cannot be purchased with a credit card. So huge amounts of money are being charged to cannabis companies. They often rely on third-party companies to transport this money.
This literal street robbery was qualified as a civil forfeiture. As the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights explains, the law allows police to seize your property, assets, or money if they believe it is related to criminal activity — there is no need to file charges, or even one determine guilt.
In response, Empyreal Logistics — which owns the trucks and operates in 28 states — sued both the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department and the federal Department of Justice. Last month, the DOJ agreed to return the money. Then last Friday, San Bernardino Sheriff Shannon Dicus agreed to stop harassing the company and drop the case.
“Empyreal, our financial institution customers, and their state-licensed cannabis customers are compliant with the law, which is why we have decided to legally challenge the San Bernardino County seizures,” Empyreal CEO Deirdra O’Gorman said in a statement released Friday. “Now that the funds have been returned and we have met with the sheriff, we are confident that we can continue to serve state businesses without future disruption.”
Cops use false claims to steal the money
As Jacob Sullum of Reason has documented at length, it’s quite apparent that his department hasn’t acted well, despite Sheriff Dicus announcing that the San Bernardino Sheriff’s Department (SBSD) will move forward amicably with Empyreal and that he wants the money returned ” supports”. Trust when they ever took it.
The first seizure occurred on Nov. 16, 2021, when sheriff’s deputy Jonathan Franco stopped an armored van for allegedly following a tractor trailer too close. At the time, the van contained about $700,000 in cash from legal marijuana deals. Arguing that he had identified a “probable reason” that the cash was illegal, Franco issued a search warrant, which a judge remotely approved. Franco took the money and the department eventually sent it to the FBI.
Franco stopped the same driver again on December 9 when they “slightly exceeded the speed limit and activated his turn signal prematurely.” The loot this time? $350,000.
Although Franco claims in the lawsuit that his drug-sniffing dog alerted them to the van
Document Notes: “Video footage from the vehicle does not show the dog alert on the vehicle. Instead, it shows that the dog is hardly interested in the vehicle.”
As Sullum reported in Reason, Sheriff Dicus had a strong incentive to make sure the FBI “adopted” the money: his department would keep up to 80% of it.
When SBSD stopped an Empyreal van for the third time last January, the company had stopped moving marijuana money through San Bernardino County, and lawmakers were not seizing any money. The report notes that the Empyreal driver asked a deputy why Empyreal vehicles were stopped so frequently, and “the deputy told him it was ‘political,’ but declined to elaborate.”
Separately, in October 2021, a sheriff’s deputy snatched over $160,000 from an Empyreal van in Kansas City.
Federal law messes up the equation, but Empyreal stays within its rights
As cannabis remains illegal at the federal level, law enforcement must inevitably navigate complicated legal gray areas. However, these companies operated entirely under California law. You don’t need a law degree to find out.
But Sheriff Dicus initially described the lawsuit as “no more than a crusade against interest groups and a blatant attempt to interfere with ongoing local criminal investigations.”
What was the ongoing investigation, you ask? Dicus didn’t bother to elaborate.
Related
Murder Changed My Mind: Pass the SAFE Banking Act Now
The case shows – once again – that Congress must pass the SAFE Banking Act. It’s the only viable path, short of full federal legalization, towards a future for cannabis that isn’t entirely dependent on cash.
Meanwhile, the San Bernardino case sets an important precedent and marks an industry victory to celebrate.
Max Savage Levenson
Max Savage Levenson probably has the lowest cannabis tolerance of any author on the cannabis beat. He also writes about music for Pitchfork, Bandcamp and other bespectacled people. He is the co-host of the Hash podcast. His dream interview is Tyler the Creator.
Check out Max Savage Levenson’s articles
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