DA sues to get alleged drug money

Civil forfeiture lawsuit filed against convict and his wife

TROY, N.Y. » Officials from the Rensselaer County District Attorney’s Office said they recently filed a civil forfeiture lawsuit against an imprisoned convict and his wife.

In 2015, officers confiscated $12,386 in cash along with various drugs, including heroin and marijuana, after arresting Alexander Luciano in the city of Rensselaer.

District Attorney Joel Abelove recently sued to obtain a court ruling so that his office could receive the money taken from Luciano by the Troy Police Department.

Luciano is currently serving an eight-year prison sentence. The lawsuit claims that Luciano’s wife should have known that the over $12,000 was obtained through the commission of a crime.

“We did file a civil lawsuit versus the defendant and his wife to try and forfeit the money and drug equipment as it was obtained through the commission of a crime,” said Jonathan Desso, a spokesman for Abelove.

Desso said this was now the only option left for the district attorney’s office to attempt to gain control of the money.

“Filing the civil suit is the only option avail-

able if a defendant does not consent to a forfeiture agreement prior to conviction and sentencing,” said Desso.

The district attorney’s office also noted that they are well within the statute of limitations limit to be able to receive the money from the defendant.

“The statute of limitation is 5 years from the date of the arrest, so we are well within that,” explained Desso.

According to court documents, Luciano turned down three plea deals for his felony drug charges and was sentenced in July 2016 by County Court Judge Debra Young.

This all comes as Abelove awaits going on trial in June on felony perjury charges and official misconduct charges for his handling of a grand jury case. The case involved the death of Watervliet resident Edson Thevenin, who was shot to death by Troy police in April 2016.

The defense attorney for Luciano, Terence Kindlon, did not immediately return a call Friday afternoon requesting comments for the story.