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My name is Sandy Thomas.
My dad and I run a small grocery store in Michigan. My dad's owned the store since 1978
and we employ about 30 people. This is my dad Terry.
This is Schott's Market, it's my store. I'm here
seven days a week, I love my job
and I love my customers. Earlier this year the government came in and took all
the money from our store's bank account.
They called it civil forfeiture. Federal forfeiture law
allows the government to take your entire bank account
just because it doesn't like the way you deposit or withdraw your money.
The government hasn't charged the Dehkos with any crime and they've broken no law.
We didn't do anything wrong. Federal law requires banks to report cash
transactions above ten thousand dollars.
It's illegal to try to avoid that requirement. In this case,
the government claims Terry and Sandy broke the law by frequently depositing
less than ten thousand dollars into their store's bank account. But the
government never bothered to ask why they did that.
You know what they would have found out if they had asked?
This insurance policy, is only covering 10,000 dollars in cash.
Last year alone, the government took in more than four billion dollars in
forfeiture money.
Taking money from innocent people like Terry and Sandy is wrong.
That's why we teamed up with the Institute for Justice. To protect the
rights of all Americans
against civil forfeiture.