Thursday, September 15, 2005
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

MISDEMEANOR CHARGE: Pot may cost homeowner

Boulder City takes steps to seize house after woman admits possessing six marijuana plants

Cynthia A. Warren could lose this house at 798 Capri Drive in Boulder City. Photo by Craig L. Moran.

A Boulder City woman who pleaded no contest to possession of six marijuana plants could lose her house over the case.

Officials in the small town, which prides itself on being the only community in the state that doesn't allow gambling, said their move to seize Cynthia Warren's home is intended to send a message that drugs won't be tolerated in Boulder City.

"In the drug world, this thing is probably nothing," said City Attorney Dave Olsen. "But in a town of 15,000 people where we have one or two children die every year because of controlled substances, it is a big deal to us."

Olsen, who pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor drunken driving charge in 2004, further defended the attempt to take Warren's residence using drug seizure laws, saying police suspected the home was being used for drug dealing.

However, the American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada said the attempted seizure is disturbing.

"The police ... get to eat what they kill," said Allen Lichtenstein, an ACLU attorney. "They have an incentive to fund themselves through these seizures, and it can be very disproportionate (to the crime). A misdemeanor, yet a fine that takes away the entire property?"

Warren wouldn't comment, but her attorney, John Lusk, said, "I think in this particular case, whatever the allegations are, they (Boulder City authorities) have overstepped their discretion."

According to Olsen and court records, police served a search warrant at Warren's home in the 700 block of Capri Drive in April amid suspicions marijuana was being manufactured and sold.

According to a search warrant signed by Boulder City Justice of the Peace Victor Miller, police expected to find marijuana plants, methamphetamine, prescriptions for dangerous drugs, paraphernalia, items used for growing and harvesting marijuana, items associated with the sale of drugs, and records of narcotics transactions.

"They found all of that," Olsen said.

Olsen acknowledged that methamphetamine found in the residence actually was methamphetamine residue, however, and that it was believed to belong to a roommate of Warren.

Warren was not charged with possession of methamphetamine. She was charged in Justice Court with two felonies, including manufacturing a controlled substance, and conspiracy to sell and possession of a controlled substance.

In a plea agreement, Warren entered a no contest plea to a misdemeanor charge of possession of a controlled substance not to be introduced into interstate commerce, a misdemeanor.

A no contest plea does not require an admission of guilt, but acknowledges that the case would likely be proven at trial. The courts treat a no contest plea as a guilty plea.

Lusk described his client as a 55-year-old woman who has been on Social Security disability since 1990.

After the plea was entered, Olsen filed a civil action in District Court seeking a judge's permission to seize Warren's home. The 2,000-square-foot house has an assessed taxable value of more than $288,000, according to Clark County records.

Lusk said he believes Warren has more than $300,000 in equity in the home.

The house sticks out among the row of well-kept homes lining the winding Boulder City street. Weeds poked through rocks in the front yard, the stucco was peeling, and a wooden board covered the front window, which was broken when police raided the home.

According to court records, an entity known as the Georgia R. Haynes living trust also has a claim to the property. The trust, represented by local attorney Richard Wright, stated in court filings that it sold the Capri property to Warren in 1997. An agreement was executed in which $82,500 was loaned to Warren via a note secured by a deed of trust for the property.

Wright did not return a telephone call seeking comment for this story.

Olsen said the seizure of property in a case like Warren's is warranted, given the evidence.

"Personally, I think it is something that should only be done in those cases where there is clear and convincing evidence the (drugs in the) house is being used for something more than personal use," Olsen said.

A Boulder City police lieutenant did not return a telephone call seeking comment for this story.

Warren's case is not the first time an attempt to seize property in a drug case has come under scrutiny in Boulder City.

In February 2000, the Review-Journal reported on attempts by Boulder City officials to confiscate a house belonging to Ila Clements-Davey. The house, on Avenue L, was the subject of a seizure attempt after Clements-Davey's son was arrested on drug charges at the residence.

Clements-Davey owned the house but didn't live there at the time of the arrest. A District Court judge rejected the city's bid to take the home.

Lusk said the city was also ordered to pay Clements-Davey's attorney fees in that case, which predates Olsen's hiring.

Veteran Las Vegas attorney Charles Kelly, a former federal prosecutor, said generally speaking state and federal law allows law enforcement agencies to confiscate property or money deemed "proceeds, product or instrumentality of a crime."

He said the practice is becoming more common.

"It's just another tool law enforcement attempts to use to fight crime," Kelly said. "There's the old saying, 'Follow the money.' It should really be, 'Seize the money.' What you seize, you get.

"If (a criminal suspect) makes a million in drug money and plows it into a legitimate business, you can trace the proceeds through there; and once illegal proceeds are commingled with legal proceeds, it contaminates everything," Kelly said.

In a 2000 investigation, the Kansas City Star newspaper uncovered multiple abuses of seizure laws nationwide. Specifically, the newspaper found that state and local law enforcement in several states circumvented their own state laws regarding confiscation of property. They did so by taking their seizure cases through the federal system.

In one case the Kansas City newspaper documented, a North Carolina State Highway Patrol trooper stopped a driver in 1999 for tailgating. A police dog signaled drugs were in the vehicle, and troopers recovered $105,700 and two grams of marijuana. The driver denied owning either the drugs or the money.

The highway patrol gave the money to federal authorities, which returned more than $80,000 to the state patrol, even though North Carolina law generally requires sending seized money to education, according to the newspaper.

District Judge Michael Cherry is scheduled to decide whether Warren's home can be given to the city.

Review-Journal writer Brian Haynes contributed to this story.