Pubdate: Sun, 15 Aug 2004
Source: Roanoke Times (VA)
Copyright: 2004 Roanoke Times
Contact:  http://www.roanoke.com/roatimes/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/368
Author: Taft Wireback
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/af.htm (Asset Forfeiture)

DEA VISIT TO SALESMAN HAS LINK TO ROANOKE

GREENSBORO, N.C. - Last week, Greensboro car dealer Bill Kennedy
started out with an inventory chock-full of high-end used cars.

There were 23 of them on his West Wendover Avenue lot -- Mercedes
sedans, BMWs and Cadillacs -- a fleet worth hundreds of thousands of
dollars. That was before 9:05 a.m. Wednesday, when a platoon of
federal agents and local police arrived to cart off every last car.

The federal Drug Enforcement Administration apparently believes the
cars are tainted by drug-dealing money, although an agency spokesman
declines to comment.

Kennedy passionately denies it.

"I've lived all my life in Greensboro. I never had anything more than
a speeding ticket, and I'm being treated like a criminal," he said.
"It's like a bad dream. It doesn't make any sense."

The raid left Kennedy with an empty lot with not a single car to sell.
It also left him with an office stripped of filing cabinets and
business materials the agents took with them.

"They took all my [car] titles, all my cars, all of my paperwork,"
Kennedy said.

He declined to discuss any specifics of his situation on the advice of
his lawyers. But he said he plans to fight back and vows he will be
exonerated.

His troubles started last year when DEA agents in Roanoke, Va., began
seizing luxury cars that he had sold and financed for residents of
that area. Agents said they believed that buyers of the four cars were
linked to drug dealing.

The drug dealers had used their illicit profits to buy the Greensboro
dealer's luxury cars, the DEA contended. Federal law gives the DEA the
right to seize cars linked in any way to drug dealing or drug money.

Kennedy hired a lawyer and sued the federal government in July,
arguing that it had no right to punish him by seizing cars in which he
still has a heavy financial interest.

He has that interest because his business, Herbie's Auto Sales,
continues to own part of the cars he sells until the buyers pay in
full. It isn't fair that he should lose that investment because he
unknowingly sold the cars to some bad people, his lawsuit contends.

During Wednesday's search, along with the cars and other material,
agents also seized business records he needs to press his civil suit
against the DEA's earlier car seizures, he said.

He calls his car dealership Herbie's because Herbert is his first
name. He said he is in his mid-60s and is proud of the reputation he
has built in business circles over the years.

Kennedy said federal agents also raided a car-cleaning business in
Roanoke last week, "Herbie's Two," to which he has no business ties.
He simply allowed an acquaintance to use the name as a way of helping
the other man get established, Kennedy said.

Kennedy has been subpoenaed to appear Aug. 30 before a federal grand
jury in Greensboro as a result of Wednesday's action, a search that
also involved the Internal Revenue Service.

A spokeswoman for Greensboro's DEA office said she did not think local
agents were involved in the case and referred questions to the
agency's Roanoke office.

Ray Melick, agent in charge of the DEA's Roanoke office, declined to
comment on any aspect of the agency's interaction with Kennedy either
in Greensboro or Roanoke.

"It's still in the investigation stage," Melick said.

But generally, Melick said, his agency is empowered to "seize vehicles
administratively" if agents believe they are linked to drug dealing or
have been bought with drug-dealing profits.
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