PHARR - Critics call it "legal" bounty hunting. Police can pull you over and take your cash and your car. Officers are supposed to connect you to a crime, but that doesn't always happen. NEWSCHANNEL 5 spent the last three months investigating what's legal.
It's no secret. Officers, deputies, and troopers spend a ton of time patrolling known drug routes, like Highway 281 and Highway 77. The drugs go north; the money and weapons come south. Raymondville resident King Swayze knows about all the officers.
"They will stop you," he told us. "I just stay the speed limit, and I don't have any problem," Swayze said.
The Kingsville Police Department agreed to let us ride along with an undercover drug interdiction officer. We spent several hours riding with Detective Mike Tamez. Tamez said his job is simple.
"Basically, we hunt felons; that's all we do," Tamez explained. "The trick is just getting vehicles committing violations."
Minutes into our ride, Tamez clocked a woman going 70 MPH. He pulled her over and explained the speed limit in the South Texas town is 65 MPH. Tamez let her go with a warning.
He's after more than speeders. Det. Tamez has a keen eye for spotting compartments that smugglers use to carry drugs and dollars.
"We're up to close to four million dollars (seized) in the last two years," Kingsville Police Chief Ricardo Torres explained.
Torres said he makes sure innocent drivers don't lose their money.
"We are not going to take it from somebody illegally," he told us.
Every seizure his officers make is directly connected to a crime.
"If you'd like to take a look at every case, I'd be glad to show you that from start to finish," Torres explained.
However, he's willing to admit other agencies aren't quite as careful.
"All it takes is one bad case to change the law forever," Torres said.
The law in question is included in Chapter 59 of the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure Asset forfeiture allows law enforcement agencies to keep a portion of the money and property that's seized in criminal cases.
State Senator Juan "Chuy" Hinojoso, (D) District 20, says the law is flawed. "If you are carrying two or three thousand dollars in cash, and you get stopped, and they find the cash, they take it away," Hinojosa said. He's worried.
"That's highway robbery," he suggested.
State Senator John Whitmire, (D) District 15, agrees there's a problem. "We got to make sure that there's due process, and that you don't use it, as some communities are doing, just to shake somebody down, get their assets, and then turn them loose without filing charges," Senator Whitmire said during an interview at the capitol.
Whitmire heads the Senate Criminal Justice Committee. He has big issues with how the money is seized and spent. There are instances across Texas of officials using it on "golf tournaments and liquor," Whitmire said. "And it's largely unknown by the public - and most of the lawmakers."
Senator Hinojosa has heard of law enforcement officials using the money for parties and to supplement salaries.
Chapter 59 says asset forfeiture funds should be used for law enforcement only, but there's a significant gray area about the acceptable use. Hinojosa says, "It's been a big problem."
He believes, "There are a lot of abuses."
Abuse sometimes increases because agencies keep most of what they seize. "It's an incentive that creates a conflict of interest," the senator suggested.
NEWSCHANNEL 5 filed an open records request with the Texas Attorney General to see how Valley law enforcement agencies are spending the millions they seized during the last year.
Click here to view state documents.
Hidalgo County District Attorney Rene Guerra spent nearly $200,000 on salaries last year. We confronted Guerra about the spending on salaries. He produced a list showing how the money was split up to supplement the salaries of 79 employees. He says he's studied the law and doesn't "...violate the spirit of the statute."
"I believe that my office is a law enforcement office," Guerra said. He says he's saved the county millions of dollars by using asset forfeiture funds.
Down the highway, state records show Starr County District Attorney Heriberto Silva has used seized money to buy computers and pay salaries. The seized money makes up a third of his annual budget. "For me, it's a survival fund," Silva said.
We told Scott Henson, a popular criminal justice blogger, about Silva's financial situation.
"He is violating the law," Silva concluded. "If every year his county commissioners’ court only gives him two-thirds of the money he needs, and he's paying for salaries with asset forfeiture funds - that's illegal," Henson said.
Henson also has issues with how the Cameron County district attorney is spending the money.
Armando Villalobos told us, "it seems like a lot of money and it is." According to the form Villalobos filed with attorney general, he spent almost $900,000 on employees' salaries last year.
During an interview about the asset spending, Villalobos said counting on the money has drawbacks. "The downside to asset forfeiture is you don't know if you're going to have that amount of money next year. And if they don't bring any income in, well then, our office is going to suffer greatly."
He concluded, "We'll have to start laying people off."
NEWSCHANNEL 5 has learned no one in Austin is monitoring how the money is being spent. Agencies go to the trouble to fill out forms, but no one reviews them for accuracy. Senator Hinojosa wants that to change.
"We are going to look at this issue this session," Hinojosa promised. "We are getting too many complaints from across the state."
Democratic Colleague Senator Whitmire said, "It has to get back to fighting crime; that was the original intent."
Whitmire recently filed Senate Bill No. 1529. It's currently under committee review. If approved, it would place larger restrictions on the spending of asset forfeiture money. It would also give the attorney general the power to enforce state law.
Click here to see the pending legislation.
Police in Kingsville say they're already doing that. The department has used its stash of cash to purchase computers, motor bikes, and fingerprinting equipment with the money, plus plenty of weapons.
"We're putting it to good use," Tamez concluded. "In essence, we're taking the drug dealers' money and doing something positive with it. We're putting it back to save people's lives."
Until the law changes, the detective won't change how he patrols. He says he'll keep searching the rural highways of South Texas for drugs and dollars.
