Pubdate: Sat, 20 Jul 2013
Source: Lincoln Journal Star (NE)
Copyright: 2013 Lincoln Journal Star
Contact:  http://www.journalstar.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/561
Author: Lori Pilger
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/af.htm (Asset Forfeiture)

JUDGE ORDERS RETURN OF $1M SEIZED IN I-80 STOP

A federal judge has ordered the government to return more than $1 
million in suspected drug money to a California woman.

The Nebraska State Patrol trooper confiscated the money after a 
traffic stop near North Platte last year, but the judge said there 
wasn't enough of a connection between it and drugs.

"There is no nexus between the currency and any illegal activity," 
U.S. District Judge Joseph F. Bataillon said in an opinion this week.

He said Tara Mishra, of Rancho Cucamonga, was entitled to the money - 
all $1,074,900 of it.

At a bench trial in Omaha last month, Mishra said she earned it as an 
exotic dancer and had given it to Rajesh and Marina Dheri to be 
invested in a nightclub in New Jersey.

On the night of March 3, 2012, Nebraska State Patrol Trooper Ryan 
Hayes stopped Rajesh Dheri for going 93 in a 75 mph zone on 
Interstate 80 near North Platte.

He and his wife said they'd flown to Los Angeles two days earlier to 
visit a friend and rented the Mercedes SUV to drive home to New 
Jersey, wanting to see the country and make several stops along the way.

Hayes gave Rajesh Dheri a speeding ticket and said they were free to go.

But then he asked if they had anything illegal in the vehicle, 
specifically weapons or large amounts of drugs or money.

Rajesh Dheri said no. So did his wife. They both gave Hayes 
permission to search it.

Troopers found two drawstring bags in the cargo area holding large 
Ziploc bags with rubber-banded bundles of cash - mostly $100s - along 
with dryer sheets.

They seized it, believing it was related to narcotics.

The Dehris originally said they were taking the money to New Jersey 
for their friends, Tasha and Rajat Mishra, for a business deal 
involving a nightclub.

Troopers put them in handcuffs and took them, the rental car and the 
money to the patrol office in North Platte, where Debo, a 
drug-sniffing dog, indicated the smell of drugs on the money.

An officer called Rajat Mishra, who verified the story. And they 
found his fingerprints on the plastic bags that held the cash.

Tasha Mishra filed a claim to get it back, but the government argued 
she had no standing to object to the seizure because she wasn't in the car.

The U.S. Attorney's office argued the large amount of money, that it 
was bundled with hair ties and dryer sheets and the fact that the 
Dehris lied about having it in their vehicle all gave rise to a 
substantial connection to drug trafficking.

But in his order Thursday, Bataillon found it was not enough.

The judge said fingerprints supported the story the Dehris initially 
told, that the money belonged to the Mishras, and the Mishras confirmed it.

At trial, Tasha Mishra, then seven months pregnant, and her husband 
said she'd claimed the earnings on tax returns and provided details 
about an agreement they had to buy part of a bar known as 46 Lounge.

She said she put drier sheets in the bags because the money smelled 
like an ash tray when she got it out of the safe deposit boxes.

Bataillon said the court was somewhat troubled by a Nebraska State 
Patrol policy to convert the cash into a cashier's check and destroy 
the money, which means there's no way to rebut accusations it smelled of drugs.

He said the canine alert had little value in the case because the 
government offered no statistical support to back it up.

"For all the court knows, there is a 90 percent chance that all money 
is drug tainted," the judge said.

In general, Bataillon said, the government "left too many unanswered 
questions and had a general failure of proof in this case."

He directed the government to return the money, plus interest since 
the day it was taken.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom