Philadelphia police putting homeowners on the street

[EEO]

The Philadelphia police are putting home owners on the street and it has nothing to do with their ability to pay the mortgage, nor are they being charged with a crime.

Christos Sourovelis works hard and owns a painting business. He has built a “dream house” in a Philadelphia suburb, and without warning, the city came along and siezed their home. Sourovelis and his wife, Markela, have never been charged, or accused of any wrong doing.

They are now suing the Philadelphia DA after their home was seized when their son was found with $40 worth of heroin.

A month and half after their son was arrested the police showed up. They opened the door and had their gun drawn on the families dog before Markela Sourovelis even knew what was going on.

YouTube Video:

The government being used as legal organized crime...

[PeoViejo]

1. Civil Forfeture is Big Business

It's all about Money and nothing to do with Justice.

[EEO]

12. That seems to be the tend. Maybe that should be the government's new slogan.

[SamKnause]

2. Evil bastards.

The government of the U.S. is a criminal cartel.

The police of the U.S. are the enforcers for the criminal cartel posing as a government.

[EEO]

10. And it protects the rich, who hold the real power in the criminal cartel.

[3rdwaydem]

3. But, the police are just executing legally valid orders from the courts.

Why blame them? The people being evicted are, in the vast majority of instances, being removed from the homes because they didn't pay their rent or, for that matter, mortgage payments in the case of home foreclosure.

We need to address why our government is often reluctant to help those who get into a financial bind and face losing their housing.

In the end, it might even be less expensive for the taxpayers as people who lose the homes often get caught in a downward economic spiral that, in the long run, can cost more than merely helping those maintain their homes.

[EEO]

4. This story is not about the vast majority of cases. It is about the abuse of the law...

... to fill government coffers.

And the government is reluctant to help those in financial trouble and face losing their housing because the rich are greedy, hold political power, and see no upside for them.

[IdaBriggs]

5. The video in the post specifies the civil forfeiture of property.

Since you did not watch it, please allow me to summarize.

A 20 year old college was arrested for illegal drugs. He had $40 worth of heroin on him. Six weeks later (with no warning) police showed up at his parents' home (where he lived with them and his two younger sisters), to "seize" the house because apparently that was where he was "selling drugs".

The college student did not own the home. The entire family was evicted while police with sledge hammers stood by prepared to destroy walls and bust pipes (their words) while the electricity was going to be cut off (also waiting outside the home). The parents were in no manner shape or form involved in any criminal activity other than having birthed an idiot child who was (apparently) sharing expenses for recreational drugs with his friends.

As detailed in the report, the police and prosecutors get the money from these types of forfeitures and have filed nearly 7,000 of these types of suits. The idea with forfeiture was to "recover" ill gotten gains from drug lords; $40 worth of heroin from a college student living in his parents' home = forfeiture of a large home in the suburbs paid for with money legally earned by your parents was probably NOT the intent of the people involved.

For example, under the idiot interpretation of "you let them do it" I can come to your home, sell some weed, and now YOU are homeless because you "let" me sell drugs from YOUR home. A discerning person might think such things are ripe for abuse, and with literally hundreds of millions of dollars floating around the Philadelphia drug enforcement office, it looks like that is what is happening.

The Prosecutor has "allowed" the family to return to the home as long as the college student is not allowed into the home. The family is now participating in a class action lawsuit against the city.

This report had nothing to do with people failing to pay either their mortgages or their rent and being legally evicted from their homes as a result after reasonable due process.

[dixiegrrrrl]

7. This tactic has been used against black residents for a long time now.

Esp. families in public housing.

[EEO]

8. Shocking that it is newsworthy when it is a non-black middle class family.

[EEO]

9. Well said.

My favorite quote from your comment:

The Prosecutor has "allowed" the family to return to the home as long as the college student is not allowed into the home.

Yes. Very nice to allow someone to return to and live in their own home after it was taken away from them unjustly. Barring their son from it for having $40 worth of heroin on him was just the icing on the cake, or less sarcastically, adding insult to injury. It is such blatant abuse of the law.

[dixiegrrrrl]

6. Reading comprehension fail...mortgage issues are NOT what this article is about. n/t

[PeoViejo]

13. Your name says it all...

[jamzrockz]

11. K&R

Another reason why the war on drug should end now. It has been shown so many times to bring about more problem than it solves