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Police Traffic Stops Involving Drugs and Money

Posted by Ronald D. Hedding, ESQ. | Sep 02, 2020

Why Would Police Pull Someone Over, Take Their Drugs and/or their Money and Let Them Go?

I confront this situation all the time as a criminal defense attorney where the police are either not arresting my clients, or not arresting some that my clients are associated with.

However, yet they're taking the drugs that they find with them or they are taking a bunch of cash that they find on them, but then they don't' arrest the person, and they can't figure out why the police are doing that.

The reality is that you probably got caught up in the middle of a big drug investigation.  In other words, the police will a lot of times wiretap people's phones, get information about drugs being moved and transferred to a location.

Then stop that person intentionally and take the drugs away from them to be able to confirm that those wiretap messages really did involve conversations about drugs.

Obviously, that would be a pretty good argument if they got drugs.  But maybe they're not ready to indict or prosecute everybody yet.

Drug Crime Investigation

So, what they end up doing is, they will end up letting the person go so they can continue to put their case together.

Police Traffic Stops Involving Drugs and Money
You might be caught up in the middle of a big state or federal drug investigation.

Because once they arrest everyone in a drug case or once they file a drug case, and the attorney for the person that they arrested, is going to be able to receive a copy of their entire investigation.

So, that attorney will be able to see who is under investigation and who they are about to arrest.

Then a lot of times they will tell their client and their client will tell the other people who are involved in the drug transaction and then the people end up getting away because the information was given to them.

Also, they stop their drug transactions where the police could get a huge bust because they get word that the authorities are about to arrest them or the authorities are investigating them.

So, what the feds like to do, and even sometimes the state police, is they will just let the person go who is caught with the drugs or money.

They'll take it away from them and they'll indict them or file a case against them later and then they'll use the same stuff, they'll come back and arrest anybody who was involved in the particular case.

Investigating Large-Scale drug Activity

So, that's what you really need to know, is that once the police are grabbing drugs or grabbing money, you can bet there's a huge investigation going on and you're caught in the middle of it.

Maybe you're the target of the investigation.  Maybe you just happen to be dealing with the target of the investigation.

But no matter what the case is, make no bones about it, you're in jeopardy of being arrested and you want to get an attorney right away.

Let that attorney contact the authorities who took the drugs and talk to them.  I feel that situation out all the time to see if I can confirm whether or not my client is about to be arrested.

Perhaps my client is part of some sort of a drug investigation so that I can make moves on my client's behalf in order to help them to make sure that they end up with the best possible result in their matter.

If they're about to do something that is going to end up causing them to be arrested or give the evidence to the prosecutors and police, that they need to prosecute them, obviously, I'm going to try to stop them from doing that so that they don't end up getting arrested.

Can I Get My Seized Money Back?

I make moves all the times when money or drugs have been seized and a lot of times people want to get their money back.  Obviously, they're not going to be able to get their drugs back.

Can I Get My Seized Money Back After Drug Investigation?
If you want to get your money back after drug investigation, we have to prove it came from a legitimate source.

But if you want to get your money back, that's a whole different scenario that I deal with involving being able to source the money and prove that the money is not money from drugs, but that the money is from something else that's legitimate.

So, this is not uncommon that somebody's money or drugs are taken away from them and then there's no case filed against them.

Another thing that I see is, the person's money or drugs will be taken away from them and then they'll get a court date and then the state court will take the case.

Sometimes the state court will keep it; other times, the state court is mainly a stall tactic while the feds get their act together, the states stall things for them.

Ultimately, the feds end up indicting the person on drug charges and then the state just dismisses their case and lets the feds deal with it.

Hedding Law Firm is a criminal defense law firm located in Los Angeles County at 16000 Ventura Blvd #1208 Encino, CA 91436. Contact us for a free case evaluation at (213) 542-0979.

About the Author

Ronald D. Hedding, ESQ.

Ronald D. Hedding, Esq., is the founding member of the Hedding Law Firm. Mr. Hedding has an extensive well-rounded legal background in the area of Criminal Law. He has worked for the District Attorney's Office, a Superior Court Judge, and as the guiding force behind the Hedding Law Firm. His multi-faceted experience sets Mr. Hedding apart and puts him in an elite group of the best Criminal Defense Attorneys in Southern California.

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