Attorneys for a North Carolina man whose money was seized by Phoenix police even though he was not charged with a crime say he is now owed more than the $39,500 authorities confiscated from him two and a half years ago.
Arizona finally returned to Jerry Johnson this month the money he had saved up to buy a new semi-truck in August 2020.
However, attorneys from Virginia-based libertarian nonprofit Institute for Justice said the state refuses to pay his attorneys’ fees and interest at Arizona’s statutory rate for judgments. They said it also needs to make Johnson “whole” for business opportunities that he missed because his money was taken.
“It took 31 months for Jerry to finally get his savings back even though he was never even charged with a crime,” attorney Dan Alban said in a statement. “In the middle of the COVID pandemic, Jerry had to find a way to keep operating his small trucking business after its working capital was seized while also scraping together money to hire an attorney (before IJ took his case). We’re glad that the money has been returned, but Jerry still needs to be made whole.”
Johnson flew from Charlotte to Phoenix on August 17, 2020, after finding a good deal on a semi-truck from an online search. He took money from his savings, and his girlfriend and uncle helped him pull together the rest. But before he could make it out of the airport and prepare to go to a local auction, Johnson was stopped by police.
Phoenix airport police searched his bags, found the two cardboard boxes he used to pack his money and accused him of money laundering. Johnson legally had $7,500 in his carry-on backpack and $32,000 in his checked luggage, according to court documents.
Even though Johnson was not charged with a crime, police confiscated Johnson’s money under Arizona’s previous civil forfeiture law. They accused Johnson, who has a registered business and trucking licenses, of earning the money from illicit…
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