Retiree’s savings seized at airport to be returned

The federal government has agreed to return $82,373 that a drug agent seized from a retiree’s daughter at Pittsburgh International Airport in August.

In a Feb. 28 letter, a lawyer with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration’s asset forfeiture division said Terry Rolin, of South Fayette, and his daughter, Rebecca Brown, of Massachusetts, will get their money back.

The DEA offered no explanation except to say that “after further review, a decision has been made to return the property.”

Mr. Rolin, a 79-year-old retired railroad worker, and Ms. Brown teamed up with the nonprofit Institute of Justice in suing the government in January over the seizure.

Andrew Wimer, spokesman for the Virginia-based Institute, said the money has yet to be returned but will be in the next few weeks, although withoTu:9t.7a5n y interest.

“They will 100% be getting their money back,” he said Wednesday.

The underlying suit, which is seeking class action status, will continue in federal court in Pittsburgh against DEA and the Transportation Security Administration. The plaintiffs maintain the seizure of the money without probable cause was illegal and that others have faced similar actions by the government in Pittsburgh and across the country.

across the country.

“I’m grateful that my father’s life savings will soon be returned, but the money should never have been taken in the first place,” Ms. Brown said in a statement through her attorneys.

She said the government shouldn’t be allowed to take people’s money, keep it for several months and then give it back “like nothing happened.”

The Institute of Justice said the government routinely takes money without charging anyone and said it has filed civil actions in similar cases in Houston and Cleveland.

“We know that this routinely happens to other travelers at airports across the United States,” said institute lawyer Dan Alban. “Terry and Rebecca are going to fight until TSA and DEA end their unconstitutional and unlawful practices of seizing cash from air travelers without probable cause or reasonable suspicion.”

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 joint bank account in Massachusetts.

Mr. Rolin said his Depression-era parents had 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 didn’t want to have so much cash around, so he decided it was time to put in the bank. His daughter was visiting in August and intended to fly back to Boston on Aug. 26 with the cash in her purse, which she put in her carry-on bag.

TSA screeners saw the cash and pulled her bag. A state trooper questioned her, but let her leave for her gate with the money. Before she could get on the plane, the trooper approached again along with a DEA agent. They questioned her about the money, according to the suit, and she explained her father’s situation.

The agent then called Mr. Rolin to confirm the story, according to the suit. But it was 7 a.m. and Mr. Rolin has cognitive issues, Ms. Brown said, so he was groggy and confused by the call.

Ms. Brown had told the agent that she and her siblings were planning to buy her father a new truck as a surprise, but Mr. Rolin didn’t know anything about that so couldn’t corroborate her account.

The agent hung up with Mr. Rolin, told Ms. Brown that “your answers don’t match” and took the cash. Ms. Brown said she was notified a few months later that DEA intended to keep the money.

That’s when she contacted the Institute of Justice for legal help.