Father, daughter sue over $82,000 seized at airport
DEA kept money without filing any charges
A retired railroad worker from South Fayette and his daughter in Massachusetts have sued two federal agencies and an agent in federal court in Pittsburgh, alleging that they illegally seized his life savings of $82,373 at Pittsburgh International Airport this summer and won’t give it back.
Terry Rolin, 79, and Rebecca Brown of Lowell, Mass., say in the suit against the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and the Transportation Security Administration that the money was seized even though Mr. Rolin has not been charged with any crimes.
The pair teamed up with the Institute for Justice, a Virginia nonprofit group, in filing the case and seeking class-action status for others whose money has been seized without charges being filed.
Institute of Justice lawyers said they’ve sued the government over similar allegations in Houston and Cleveland.
“What happened to them [Rolin and Brown] illustrates the systematic policies or practices of TSA and DEA: seizing cash from air travelers based solely on the presence of what these agencies believe to be ‘large’ or ‘suspicious’ amounts of cash,” they wrote in the suit. “These policies or practices of TSA and DEA violate the Fourth Amendment.”
In August, Mr. Rolin entrusted Ms. Brown with the $82,000, which he said represents his and his parents’ savings, so she could deposit it into a new joint bank account for him in Massachusetts. Mr.
Rolin said his parents lived through the Depression and kept their money hidden at home instead of in banks and he did the same. But when he moved out of the family home and into an apartment he said he became uncomfortable with having so much cash on hand, so he decided to put it into an account.
He and his daughter said they planned to use the money on dental work and to get his truck repaired.
Ms. Brown was visiting for the weekend in August to see her father and attend a family gathering and intended to fly back to Boston with the money in her purse on the morning of Aug. 26.
She said she checked online and found that carrying cash on a flight is legal. She put the purse in her carry-on bag and didn’t check any luggage.
She said TSA screeners saw the cash on an X-ray and pulled the bag aside while a state trooper questioned her.
She was allowed to leave for her gate with the money, she said, but before boarding was approached again by a trooper and a DEA agent. She said they interrogated her about why she was carrying so much cash. She said she explained her father’s situation, after which the agent said he wanted her to call her father so he could verify what she was saying.
She said she told the agent that her father has cognitive issues and also would not be awake so early, 7 a.m., and would likely be confused about the call. The agent
insisted. When he spoke with Mr. Rolin, the retiree was groggy and confused, according to the suit.
Ms. Brown had also told the agent that she and her siblings were planning to buy her father a new truck as a surprise, but Mr. Rolin obviously didn’t know anything about that so couldn’t corroborate her account.
The agent then told Ms. Brown that “your answers don’t match” and took the cash.
She boarded her flight without it and flew home to Boston.
Months later, according to the suit, Mr. Rolin and Ms. Brown received notice that the DEA intended to keep the money through the civil forfeiture process.
Dan Alban, an Institute of
Justice lawyer, said that flying with any amount of cash is legal and that TSA and DEA are violating the law when they seize money without charging anyone.
“You don’t forfeit your constitutional rights when you try to board an airplane,” he said.
The Institute of Justice said that in the Houston and Cleveland cases that it contested, the government eventually returned the money seized.
Lawyers said that Mr. Rolin and Ms. Brown want the same result and for TSA and DEA to stop the practice of seizure.
In addition to the two agencies, the pair also sued the DEA agent who took the cash whose name they knew only as “Steve.”
In a statement, Ms. Brown said her father and his parents had worked hard for their money and the government should not be allowed to confiscate it.
“We did nothing wrong and haven’t been charged with any crime, yet the DEA is trying to take my father’s life savings,” she said. “His savings should be returned right away, and the government should stop taking money from Americans who are doing something completely legal.”
In addition to sending the suit to TSA and DEA, the Institute of Justice sent it to Attorney General William Barr and U.S. Attorney Scott Brady in Pittsburgh. Mr. Brady’s office declined to comment.