An Iowa jury has found former Dallas County Sheriff Brian Gilbert guilty of stealing $120,000 in cash seized as suspected drug profits. But this did nothing to stop the routine highway robbery authorized by the federal government as part of the so-called war on drugs.
Since 2002, Gilbert and his deputies have confiscated more than a million dollars in the name of "asset forfeiture.?

Although court approval is required before police can take ownership of seized assets, Gilbert's department offered detained motorists the option of surrendering their cash or cars as "abandoned property."
Last August 18, a federal court ruled that "possession of a large sum of money [by a motorist] is `strong evidence' of a connection to drug activity." This assumption permits police to confiscate cash found during a traffic stop -- without charging the driver with a crime.
The so-called war on drugs has turned many cops into robbers. Narcotics and the people who push them are vile, but federally abetted police corruption is a much bigger threat to our freedom.

Let us stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free.