Fayette County district attorney says civil forfeiture is often abused
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) — Civil forfeiture is a legal process that allows law enforcement to seize property, including cash, from those believed to be involved in criminal activity — no conviction required. But not all counties always follow that same definition.
In Allegheny County, more than $480,000 was seized in just one year. In Fayette, it was more than $3 million.
"I will put it this way: civil asset forfeiture is a valuable tool for law enforcement to be able to do our job, to be able to use the fruits of criminal activity to prosecute future and further criminal activity. If used inappropriately, civil asset forfeiture is government theft," said Fayette County District Attorney Mike Aubele.
"It's violative of our basic principles of this country and certain communities that really enrich themselves and use this as a means of income," said David Shrager, a defense attorney in Allegheny County.
According to the most recent records released by the state, in 2021 and 2022, more than $480,000 was seized in Allegheny County. According to data, $39,366 of that was money taken during arrests or what police say was proceeds from illegal activity. The other $440,993 shows it wasn't related to a criminal case but possibly criminal behavior. In most cases, that ended in no arrests or cases dismissed.
"It's set up to incentivize small governments, small little boroughs, small little things to want to abuse it. And this isn't what we want. This isn't what our country stands for," said Shrager.
Shrager says he represented a client traveling with a large amount of cash legitimately, yet it was taken. They had to battle for it back in court.
"There was no drugs in the car. There was nothing that they could arrest my client for. There was no evidence of any crime. The only thing he had was a large amount of cash," Shrager said.
He says that money was eventually proven legal and given back, but that's not always the case. Shrager says if someone gets pulled over with a lump sum and it's seized, there's not much you can do.
"There's not much you can do except for say, 'OK,' and record everything," Shrager said. "And hopefully they're supposed to give you an inventory receipt. You have the right to record, in most circumstances."
In other cases, civil forfeitures are fully legal when it's a criminal matter, including one case in Fayette County, totaling over $3 million. After it was seized, half went to the attorney general's office while the other half stayed in Fayette County, mostly used to support local law enforcement.
"With equipment, with police cars. We can use it to enhance security. We can use it to go after drug dealers. Ultimately, I will say, a large sum of that money, my predecessor did a wonderful thing — used that to install license plate readers around the county, which has allowed us to track vehicle movements in higher crime areas, people attempting to leave the county," Aubele said.
But Aubele says not all counties always follow the same rules and may not use the money seized to support law enforcement or fund community-based drug and crime-fighting programs, per recommendations by the attorney general's office.
"Do you think it's problematic that everyone kind of has their own definition?" KDKA-TV's Erika Stanish asked.
"I think civil asset forfeiture in general is problematic. Again, it's often abused and that's a nationwide problem. That's not a Pennsylvania problem," said Aubele.
KDKA-TV reached out to the attorney general's office which said it spends forfeiture funds in compliance with the law.
As for the $440,000 seized in Allegheny not related to criminal matters, KDKA-TV reached out to the district attorney for comment and didn't hear back by airtime.
KDKA-TV Investigative Producer Tory Wegerski contributed to this report.