Pubdate: Fri, 02 May 2014
Source: San Diego Union Tribune (CA)
Copyright: 2014 Union-Tribune Publishing Co.
Contact:  http://www.utsandiego.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/386
Note: Seldom prints LTEs from outside it's circulation area.
Author: Jeff McDonald
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/af.htm (Asset Forfeiture)

FEDS TO WITHHOLD $30K IN SEIZED CRIMINAL ASSETS FROM COUNTY

District Attorney's Funding Grants to Prosecutors' Group at Issue

The U.S. Department of Justice will withhold as much as $30,000 in 
grants to San Diego County because of a disagreement over spending of 
money and assets seized in criminal cases.

District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis has granted tens of thousands of 
dollars from forfeited assets to the California District Attorneys 
Association, a professional group.

The subject of the dispute is $29,400 of federal funds that went for 
an office lease for the prosecutors group. Dumanis is active in the 
statewide education and advocacy organization and has served as its 
president and vice president.

"The California District Attorneys Association provides invaluable 
training for prosecutors pursuing justice up and down the State of 
California," said Dumanis spokesman Steve Walker, "work which the 
District Attorney's Office is proud to support through money taken 
from criminals."

The federal forfeiture money is to be spent on law enforcement or 
certain community-based organizations, not prosecutor trade groups, 
federal officials said.

They told U-T Watchdog that they found the disallowed spending during 
a routine review and will withhold future grants to recoup the funds.

The program "prohibits the use of equitably shared funds by or for 
the purchase of items used by non-law enforcement personnel," Justice 
spokesman Peter Carr wrote in an email. "The association is not law 
enforcement."

Spending of asset-forfeiture funds from a separate state program has 
not come into question.

Dumanis directed $50,000 of state-administered drug-seizure funds to 
the prosecutor trade group for training purposes in 2009, when she 
was its president. State asset forfeiture money also paid for $3,000 
in legal research for the group.

Dumanis' office said the state has different rules, and that spending 
was allowed. The Attorney General's Office, which administers the 
state forfeiture program, declined to address the issue.

The disputed funds are a small portion of the grant program. Over the 
past five years, the District Attorney's Office collected just under 
$2 million from the federal program, according to statements it 
submitted to federal agents.

Most of those funds paid for overtime, office furniture, travel, 
training, computers and communication equipment. They also paid for 
T-shirts, Courage Award banquets, state bar dues for law clerks and a 
new car for a cross-jurisdictional drug and gang unit, records show.

During the same period, about $325,000 was directed to 
community-based groups that mostly focus on job-training, 
drug-treatment and other social programs.

In awarding grants, Dumanis supported the Coalition of Neighborhood 
Councils with almost $70,000; about $50,000 to AmeriCorps; $25,000 to 
Big Brothers Big Sisters; and grants to similar charities that fight 
poverty and drug abuse.

Annual statements also show the District Attorney's Office spent 
about $10,000 on "buy money" and informants and $5,000 on armor and 
protective gear.

It is not clear how much the District Attorney's Office has received 
under the state program in recent years. Required annual audits have 
not been posted on the Attorney General's website since 2010.

Deputy District Attorney Julianne Reizen declined to release 
documents of funds received under the state program, saying there 
were more than 4,000 pages and examining them for potential 
redactions would be overly burdensome.

Overall, a Dumanis aide said, the office makes excellent use of the 
program by seizing assets from convicted criminals and distributing 
them to needy groups across the community.

"These contributions make a real difference in the lives of many San 
Diego communities in need," Walker wrote.

Margaret Dooley-Sammuli of the local American Civil Liberties Union 
chapter said granting government-seized property to a group 
advocating for prosecutors is inappropriate.

"Civil asset forfeiture is a very problematic program," she said. 
"This is not the first time we've seen violations ... in the 
allocation of these funds."

Dooley-Sammuli said the awards were questionable because they have 
violated federal rules and because the district attorneys group has 
used it for political purposes - such as advocating on legislation - 
that are not a direct law enforcement expense.

"The narrative about asset-forfeiture is that it's supposed to go to 
the law enforcement mission, to public safety," she said.

According to its public tax filing, the objective of the California 
District Attorneys' Association is "to promote justice by enhancing 
prosecutorial excellence."

The organization collected revenue of more than $6 million last year, 
including $1.1 million in seized assets. It paid its previous CEO 
almost $150,000 in the year ending June 30, 2012.

The current CEO is Mark Zahner, who supports use of drug-seizure 
money on his organization.

"The association provides a very important function," Zahner said. 
"It's incredibly important to make sure DAs up and down the state are 
as prepared as they can be."
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom