California town shaken as police officers arrested

[Jesus Malverde]

Residents of a California farming town were grappling Wednesday with the feeling that their trust has been violated after learning the acting police chief and a handful of officers were charged with crimes including selling or giving away the impounded cars of poor Hispanic residents.

The misgivings had been building for some time. Investigators heard people — many unable to speak English — complain that police were taking their cars and money, and there was nothing they could do about it.

"I'm not at all surprised by the arrests, I'm just surprised there weren't more charges," restaurateur Vivian Villa said Wednesday in Spanish while sizzling a pan of beef in preparation for the lunch rush. "Now maybe some of them are going to feel what we feel when they target us."

Later in the day, Villa held a meeting in her little restaurant where about a dozen community members spoke out against police abuse and corruption.

Latinos account for nearly 90 percent of the community of 13,000 people tucked among fields of tomatoes, strawberries and lettuce along the Salinas River, 150 miles southeast of San Francisco.

http://www.sfgate.com/news/crime/article/California-town-shaken-as-police-officers-arrested-5267574.php

[jberryhill]

1. California towns are always shaking for one reason or another

[El_Johns]

2. wow.

[Paolo123]

3. what kind of morons thing cops are above this? nt

[Egalitarian Thug]

5. The same morons that have owned and run King City for generations. n/t

[Egalitarian Thug]

4. Fluff piece on a problem that has gone on for decades there. n/t

[Jesus Malverde]

6. Really sounds like it from the article.

An outside investigator thought it was strange when he came to town. Sounds a little bit like a movie.

[Egalitarian Thug]

7. King City is infamous, has been for decades. It's one of the dirty little secrets that California

keeps hidden from the cameras. Picture the worst stereotype of the tiny southern town, the one with the 10 MPH speed limit sign painted under the rock at the town limits, and move it to the west coast, that's King City. Not a day goes by that they don't extort someone out of thousands of dollars to keep their parasites in charge.

A place to be avoided at all costs.

[jsr]

21. Sure sounds like it

[hunter]

8. California has its rotten places.

Like so much of the U.S.A..

[alp227]

9. Remind me again, who are the REAL illegals?

The immigrants who are here to do the "jobs Americans won't do", or the employers and in this case the cops who exploit the immigrants?

[DeSwiss]

10. They should keep going to the next town.....

...and the next. And the next. And the next. And the next. And the next. And the next. And the next. And the next. And the next. And the next. And the next. And the next. And the next. And the next. And the next. And the next. And the next. And the next. And the next. And the next. And the next. And the next. And the next. And the next. And the next. And the next. And the next. And the next. And the next. And the next. And the next. And the next. And the next. And the next. And the next. And the next. And the next. And the next. And the next. And the next. And the next. And the next. And the next. And the next. And the next. And the next. And the next. And the next. And the next. And the next. And the next. And the next. And the next. And the next. And the next. And the next. And the next. And the next. And the next. And the next. And the next. And the next. And the next. And the next. And the next. And the next. And the next. And the next. And the next. And the next. And the next. And the next. And the next. And the next. And the next. And the next.

- You get the idea.......

K&R

[Coyotl]

11. No racism in the USA. Move on, nothing to see here, except maybe

the damn racists started a war on Mexico to steal California, New Mexico, Utah, and Arizona for all the gold and silver. Oh yeah, and so they could reimpose slave hunting Indians.

[Egalitarian Thug]

14. In the case of King City, it has nothing to do with racism, that's just how the story's

being sold this time. They are an equal opportunity organized crime that happens to get more Hispanics due to geography. King City is a well-known and long standing canker sore on the face of California that they choose to ignore.

[qwertyq]

22. can you provide more examples of the corruption in King City?

I never knew this.

[reddread]

23. not just King City by any means

MOST cities.
Would you be able to cite a clean town in California?
Bell CA ring a bell?
Sundown towns all over the place.
Not just King City by a damn sight.

[hunter]

24. It's still very possible it was racism.

There's a large indigenous Mexican immigrant community in the area who speak neither English or Spanish and wouldn't know where to turn when confronted by rotten cops.

Those would be the "poorer Hispanics" who were being targeted by these crooks.

It wouldn't surprise me if there's worse to be found -- undocumented labor and drug trafficking, etc..

[reddread]

25. indigenous immigrants? n/t

[bravenak]

26. Mestizos.

[hunter]

27. Indigenous Americans.

People of cultures that existed before the European conquests.

How would you say it?

[reddread]

28. indigent victims n/t

[PotatoChip]

12. Question for anyone who may know:

When police seize property, not just in California, but anywhere USA, where does it go from there legally speaking? In other words, what governmental agency decides what to do with the property? Under normal legal circumstances, not this particular case, I mean...

Shouldn't there be a judge involved, somewhere (or several areas) in this chain of events, and perhaps other governmental agencies beyond that who have oversight?

This whole bit about law enforcement being able to seize property is something that I hope is a very limited power, reserved for ill-gotten gains of the most despicable of convicted criminals. Additionally, I would hope that once the seized property is deemed available for liquidation after all legal channels have declared it so, what then? In the case of stolen property, I would assume every effort is made to return it to the rightful owner, but what about the remaining stuff?

Who, under normal legal circumstances (not this case) gets to profit? Is it turned over to state ownership to be used for the common good of the people?

[Egalitarian Thug]

15. Depends on jurisdiction, in most cases the LOA that takes it, gets it.

This has been going on all over the nation since the mid '80s, and no, it is not "a very limited power" at all.

[PotatoChip]

16. If I understand correctly

you are saying that it's pretty much just one step? Cops seize and keep, basically?

If so, that seems to be a huge conflict of interest, even if they use it for operational costs, ect. and not personal enrichment.

That's just wrong on so many levels, imho.

Thank you for answering, though.

[Egalitarian Thug]

17. You're welcome and I know, right? It isn't just one step, officially of course.

(Actually, it probably is in some places) Forms have to be filled out and procedures followed, but I got pulled over for speeding in Atlanta by a uniformed cop driving a $150K Mercedes.

One of my better friends is going through a seven year ordeal where the feds just took all of his assets, with no indictment, because his lawyers were too good.

Another lesson for Americans. Being pretty rich is no protection.

[reddread]

20. No, not at all

first they set up "check points" like they do in Fresno, ALL THE TIME.
Then they nail people without the proper papers, or blood alcohol level.
Then the impoundment fees compile ($85 a day or so?0 at the tow yard,
(one of which may have ties to our Police Chief/Minister of Justice/17 year old statutory rapist Dyer)
ALL of whom have a level of lobbyist influence right up there with the Prison Industry.
Then, when people who are lucky to have enough to pay rent cant recover their vehicle from impoundment
at 85 bucks a day, on top of whatever other fees and fines they are suddenly faced with, after 30 days
a lien sale will put that vehicle in the possession of whoever has the scratch to buy it for much less than
the accumulated fines that took it away from the previous owner.
Then it goes to Mexico, or some reseller somewhere,
and the next checkpoint takes place.

[JoeyT]

18. It depends on how they seize it, where they seize it, etc.

If it's taken under asset forfeiture, you can write it off. Generally AFed property is shared by the law enforcement agencies that took it, and in some especially shady places the DA/judge gets a cut, too. You don't need to be convicted or charged with a crime, since you aren't the defendant. Instead of being a criminal case against you, it's a civil case against your belongings. You have to hire a lawyer, wait until the court decides to let you complain, and prove the property has never in any way been connected to anything illegal, and would never have been connected to anything illegal in the future.

Even when states try to pull the reins on that stuff, the feds step in and helpfully assist them in getting around state or local laws.

It really ought to be a very limited power, but it isn't.

Edited to add: The lyrics and the beat change, but the tune typically goes something like this story. http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2013/08/12/130812fa_fact_stillman

[tofuandbeer]

13. Wow. I've stopped there everytime I drove up north. A food/gas stop area...

when I hit King City, I'm pretty much content that I'm almost there.
Creepy stuff, when police are like that.

[indepat]

29. Looks like these officers operated a pretty lucrative racket: throwing the RICO statutes at those

who racketeer would teach them a well-earned lesson.

[gerogie2]

30. Police, courts and Tow Companies do this across the nation. It's a National Scam

Oh, it is common for the police to target the poor and minorities that are driving to seize their cars for a drivers license or registration or auto insurance or DUI or drug violation. They have the car towed then demand thousands of dollars in impound fees, violation fines and towing fees. The poor low wage worker can't afford to pay right away and then the government and/or impound lots add on huge storage fees every day so that the owner of the car can't afford to get it out of the lot. Then the car is auctioned off to a used car dealer, so they can resell it at a profit. Meanwhile the amount owed is sold to a collection agency that can hound the low wage worker for years and take them to small claims court to seize assets, place liens and garnish wages.
If it happens to be pay day when they pull over the low wage worker and he has $500 from just cashing his paycheck they claim the money is drug money and seize that.
These police officers just were greedy for themselves, but if the government had done all the dirty work through civil forfeiture laws all would have been just fine. The poor low wage workers who are the victims of this massive government scam that goes on every single day in this nation are truly the suffers in a debt slave type system.