In 2009, Thunder Bay police searched a rural Ontario home for an illegal .22-caliber handgun. They didn’t find the gun, but they did uncover cash hidden throughout the property: C$15,000 stuffed into a floor vent, C$9,750 tucked in a garage suitcase, and about C$1.2 million sealed in a Rubbermaid tub buried beneath the garage floor, according to the New York Times.
The tenant, Marcel Breton, was charged with possessing proceeds of crime, but he successfully challenged the search warrant and was acquitted. That left the courts to decide whether the money should be returned or forfeited—never a tough call for a government that treats unclaimed cash like its natural habitat.
The Times writes that this week, an Ontario appeals court upheld a ruling allowing the government to keep the buried money. Though Breton wasn’t convicted, prosecutors persuaded the court the cash wasn’t lawfully his. The judges emphasized the sheer scale and packaging of the money. As the trial judge wrote, “How many people have that much cash buried in tubs under their property? How many average people have that much money in their bank accounts at any given time? Not a lot in my experience.”
New York Times- Police Found $1 Million in a Tub Under a Garage. The Government Gets to Keep It.
h/t Scott
When the Nazis are in charge the judges are all Nazis too. An illegal search warrant should wipe out everything found in the search. As drugs or handguns aren’t presently legal they will never be returned. Money is not illegal so it should be returned. In democracies the government has to prove you guilty. In fascist dictatorships, like Canada, you have to prove yourself innocent.
” An illegal search warrant should wipe out everything found in the search. ”
As it does down south, yes. But here in Canada, we have that little clause that states we can only have such rights if they don’t “bring the administration of justice into disrepute” (or some such nonsense).
It’s much like the ‘Notwithstanding” clause that renders our entire Canadian Constitution utterly useless: “Here are your rights, unless we decide that you shouldn’t have them”.
The government successfully tried to exercise its civil forfeiture statute where you may be innocent, but your money can be guilty. Totally illogical and another form of government theft – taxation without representation. I believe that was the rallying cry of the American revolution.
Same in the US. Lower standard of proof than a criminal trial.
Government can take your property without even charging you with a crime. Have to post a bond, big % of the value, just to challenge it.
Good luck winning a court case titled
“The People vs Rubbermaid of Cash”
OPM addicts gotta steal.
It is what they do.
Of course the Just Us System will rule for the government.
Kleptocracy is so great.
Yeah, keep your cash off shore next time you pleb!
“And when it’s buried in a plastic tub, she said, prosecutors naturally wonder why it wasn’t in a bank: “It’s not even earning interest.””
I’d like to know the name of this particular moron, banks don’t really pay interest any more on deposits, and as the freedom convoy illustrated they aren’t particularly trustworthy either.
FILTHY LIBERALS
We have no law and order.
Stick a fork in this so called Canada. It’s become a Phagtopian Paradise of Indian grifters and islamo nazi’s wilfully escorted and protected by the goons called “Police”. They arrest the Whites who protest being labelled as the enemy in our own damn country.
I hate this place.
Buried plastic tubs aren’t very secure ways to store cash. Rodents can gnaw their way in, eat bills, and scatter coins.
Lesson learned: When you have enough to bury, buy gold!