Stacy Jones and her husband like to travel and they like to gamble traveling to North Carolina from Tampa for the opening of a new casino and they did well.
While in North Carolina they also sold a car and so when they arrived at the airport to fly back to Tampa they had $43,000 in cash in a carry-on bag.
At the airport, a T.S.A. agent questioned them about the cash and eventually called in the D.E.A.
Jones says she had the D.E.A. agent call the friend who had purchased their car to prove that’s where they picked up some of the money. They also told the D.E.A. they had traveled to go gambling and won big.
That wasn’t enough and the D.E.A. seized the cash. Without proof they D.E.A. assumed they got the money from an illegal transaction and seized the cash.
Jones was forced to hire an attorney who specializes in these cases just to try and get her money back.
“Civil forfeiture process is very complicated. You have to file claim forms with the government, you have to wait a long period of time,” says attorney Dan Alban.
It’s taken six months, but the D.E.A. finally sent a letter to Alban saying they will return the money.
Jones says she lost more than just the cash.
“I was working for a major airline and when this incident happened they suspended me because they assumed that I was committing something unethical, so until that could be proven they suspended me and then forced me to resign,” says Jones.
She also says her case is not unique, “I know of a man who owns a tour bus company and was going to buy another tour bus and he had proof he was going to buy a tour bus and they took the money, ” said Jones…
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