By MICHAEL A. SCARCELLA

 

 

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MANATEE COUNTY -- The members of an alleged multinational cocaine trafficking ring didn't live underground in obscurity. Their homes, and their land, were scattered around the county.

From Rubonia in north Manatee to rural land near Myakka City in the east, the list of houses and property the federal government wants to seize in the case shows how entrenched the operation had become.

Manatee detectives and DEA agents say the group of drug traffickers -- more than a dozen local residents who were indicted in federal court in December -- smuggled and distributed millions of dollars worth of cocaine, flooding the Southwest Florida market for many years.

Now, government prosecutors in Tampa want to seize and resell houses and property reportedly connected to the trafficking ring, which was dismantled after an 18-month investigation. Law enforcement agencies say asset forfeiture can disrupt and deter criminal activity.

"We want to hurt them in their pocketbooks as well as put them behind bars," U.S. Attorney's Office spokesman Steve Cole in Tampa said.

Landlords whose tenants opt to use a house to sell drugs sometime get pulled into the fray. Government officials say they make every effort to verify that property in a forfeiture hearing was used to further criminal activity or was purchased through criminally tainted funds.

At least two of the homeowners whose houses the government wants to take were neither arrested nor indicted in the cocaine case. It's up to prosecutors to prove to a jury that a so-called "innocent" homeowner is tied to the criminal enterprise.

And the government won't go after every home.

"If you have a big mortgage, they'll drop it in a heartbeat. The government isn't interested in paying a mortgage," said Bradenton-based defense attorney Thomas Ostrander, who has represented federal defendants since the 1980s.

The money the government makes when it auctions houses, cars and other assets is generally pumped back into law enforcement agencies and, in some cases, provided as restitution to victims.

Administration note: Goes to show and teach you that if you are going to break the law..have your house mortgaged to the hilt.

I also wonder whether this seizure is done before or after trial and judgement?