Man tries to go to LA with $16k in cash money to make a music video, DEA robs em
Options
King Ghidorah
Members Posts: 917 ✭✭✭✭✭
http://www.abqjournal.com/580107/news/dea-agents-seize-16000-from-aspiring-music-video-producer.htmlIt happened, Rivers said, to him on April 15 as he was traveling on Amtrak from Dearborn, Mich., near his hometown of Romulus, Mich., to Los Angeles to fulfill his dream of making a music video. Rivers, in an email, said he had saved his money for years, and his mother and other relatives scraped together the rest of the $16,000.
Rivers said he carried his savings in cash because he has had problems in the past with taking out large sums of money from out-of-state banks.
A DEA agent boarded the train at the Albuquerque Amtrak station and began asking various passengers, including Rivers, where they were going and why. When Rivers replied that he was headed to LA to make a music video, the agent asked to search his bags. Rivers complied.
Rivers was the only passenger singled out for a search by DEA agents – and the only black person on his portion of the train, Pancer said.
In one of the bags, the agent found the cash, still in the Michigan bank envelope.
“I even allowed him to call my mother, a military veteran and (hospital) coordinator, to corroborate my story,” Rivers said. “Even with all of this, the officers decided to take my money because he stated that he believed that the money was involved in some type of narcotic activity.”
Rivers was left penniless, his dream deferred.
“These officers took everything that I had worked so hard to save and even money that was given to me by family that believed in me,” Rivers said in his email. “I told (the DEA agents) I had no money and no means to survive in Los Angeles if they took my money. They informed me that it was my responsibility to figure out how I was going to do that.”
Sean Waite, the agent in charge for the DEA in Albuquerque, said he could not comment on the Rivers case because it is ongoing. He disputed allegations that Rivers was targeted because of his race.
Waite said that in general DEA agents look for “indicators” such as whether the person bought an expensive one-way ticket with cash, if the person is traveling from or to a city known as a hot spot for drug activity, if the person’s story has inconsistencies or if the large sums of money found could have been transported by more conventional means.
“We don’t have to prove that the person is guilty,” Waite said. “It’s that the money is presumed to be guilty.”
My pops once had 6k in cash taken from him by the DEA, took like 8 months for the investigation to end, and ? was like "Only $890 of it wasn't drug money, good luck" ? my Ps2 got pawned getting them funds. This nugga won't get no where near 16k back by the time they done ? his funds
Comments
-
That guy was actually lucky the DEA took his money. At the very least he might recoup some of it. The wolves out in LA would have ripped him off plus a couple of other things. He seems a little naive. They must live way out in the boonies.
-
Yea that's ? up but dudes story is kinda dumb tho
16,000 in cash for a music video in LA? And who takes a train?
Whole thing sounds kind of ? -
As ? up as it is, I almost don't have any sympathy for him.
That's some dumb, ignorant, hoodrat ? to waste your entire savings on a music video.
I know things like this happen in real life, but.....considering the narrative......I hope the story is fake.
Some of the circumstances don't make sense.
For instance, why did he have to go to LA to shoot a video?
And by train on top of that.
Why not take a plane?
Was dude afraid of flying or something?
Hopefully something positive will come out of this and he'll have a better perspective of what his priorities should be. -
I don't know about yalls family, but ain't no way in Hell my fam gonna give me $16K in cash, for ANYTHING, especially not a music video
-
Yea that's ? up but dudes story is kinda dumb tho
16,000 in cash for a music video in LA? And who takes a train?
Whole thing sounds kind of ?
The guy probably is ? and that's why the DEA agent preyed on him. The guy had him call his mom for Christs sake. He's obviously special, and the DEA took advantage
“We don’t have to prove that the person is guilty,” Waite said. “It’s that the money is presumed to be guilty.”
^^^^that is so ? fascist. -
Yeah. It's generally dumb to carry around more than a few hundred in cash at a time. It's the physical manifestation of a risky asset. You lose it, it's gone.
But...shooting a music video in LA? Exactly how did he think the production process worked? Music Videos cost thousands to complete...and that's not even the good ones. He was probably just too naive in the end. -
c'mon guys... dude was going to cop work. end of story.
-
As ? up as it is, I almost don't have any sympathy for him.
That's some dumb, ignorant, hoodrat ? to waste your entire savings on a music video.
I know things like this happen in real life, but.....considering the narrative......I hope the story is fake.
Some of the circumstances don't make sense.
For instance, why did he have to go to LA to shoot a video?
And by train on top of that.
Why not take a plane?
Was dude afraid of flying or something?
Hopefully something positive will come out of this and he'll have a better perspective of what his priorities should be.
u cant travel wit 16k on a plane..
that sayin..
? was movin somethin. lol -
Lol them ppl ? as a mug
-
Cant have ? period if it was 6K they will take it. Dont travel with large sums overnight it to your destination. Romulus is like 15 minutes from me crazy story happens everyday though sad really.
-
damn, i almost felt sorry for bro at first, but this nah, lol. "i've had trouble withdrawing large amounts at out of state banks" what the hell is a non drug dealer doing to need to withdraw thousands in cash in various different states? this ? doesn't have a debit card, or a checkbook? he could've easily paid for his "video" as needed throughout the process. even if he was retarted, no way his whole family backed this ? ? and no one told him not to travel alone to la with $16,000 cash.
-
c'mon guys... dude was going to cop work. end of story.
No...nooo, but my uncle got 6k taken from hiiim
Ngga ya uncle was a hype, he lied to you kid -
^^
Wow. ROFL -
? is terrible. The money is guilty? They give any excuse to take your ? and knowing that you don't have the means to fight back, they get to keep it.
-
yeah even though he was clearly going to cop... confiscating money because you think it's going to be used for a crime is basically stealing and should be illegal as ? . they could have just followed the dude and got him and the seller but they just want the free easy cash.
it's basically just a legalized shakedown. -
Shout out to The Wire, season 1 or 2, the episode when Ashy Larry was Clay Davis' driver lmao they took his cash and said he neded to be able to explain it to get it back. Before that episode i did not know police could do this.
-
I keep 20 in the pocket..
We talkin a buck 80 if the Bentley the topic (that grey poupon!)
-
? should have got GoPro cam and Adobe After Effects CC. Or hit up his local city college for students majoring in film.
-
That's a expensive ass lesson to learn about these crooks
However I aint buying that music video ? ...with 16k you can buy your own equipment and shoot your own video..why do you need to go all the way to la for that? -
As ? up as it is, I almost don't have any sympathy for him.
That's some dumb, ignorant, hoodrat ? to waste your entire savings on a music video.
I know things like this happen in real life, but.....considering the narrative......I hope the story is fake.
Some of the circumstances don't make sense.
For instance, why did he have to go to LA to shoot a video?
And by train on top of that.
Why not take a plane?
Was dude afraid of flying or something?
Hopefully something positive will come out of this and he'll have a better perspective of what his priorities should be.
Why you even care what he was doing with his money
Tell me why these crackas took his money but didn't take him to jail
Tell me that -
Some of yall missing the point as usual. Asset seizure program is along the same lines as Police officers abusing their powers. The burden of proof is you to prove your innocence, all they have to do is "suspect" the money came from drugs. Does the government show restraint?
From patriot act, NSA domestic spying, asset seizures to Eric Gardner, Tamir Rice, and Freddie Gray - it's all the same ? . -
that's a pretty ? up story. But dude's story is so ? , it's hard 2 feel sorry for him. Aint no reason in the world to travel with $16,000 on you. Having difficulty withdrawing money from an out of state bank don't even make sense.
-
Talk about missing the point.
-
? sound dumb as ? ..I'll wait for more to evolve
-
Thems the rules. You can travel with a few thousand but not that many thousand. Why? I understand why but who cares why those are the rules. Thats For your benefit and safety too. Also why did they pick out that bus and him? Of course he aint gone get into all that. Its possible he just thought he could travel around with a 16,000 dollar bankroll with no good story on how he got it but thats not how it goes. End of discussion (obviously)...now if he can verify things in a way somebody could believe, he may be alright. I aint the only one like "what?" to his story. No need to paint a broad brush of corruption . Save that for instances where it fits more.