Amtrak Passenger Claims DEA Agent Straight Up Stole $60 From His Wallet

Heuser told his story to Conor Friedersdorf of The Atlantic, explaining that he was on a train in Reno, Nevada, earlier this year when a DEA agent knocked on the door of his sleeper car and began interrogating him about trafficking drugs.

According to Heuser, the agent proceeded to intimidate and bully him into complying with an unreasonable search of his belongings. When Heuser resisted the violation of his Fourth Amendment rights, the agent pressed harder, eventually forcing him out of the car while officers looked through Heuser's backpack and other possessions. When he returned, something was gone.

“I found my backpack moved and open, and my wallet, which was set down on the room table, had $60 missing,” Heuser told The Atlantic.

The DEA did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The Department of Justice, the parent agency of the DEA, says to report complaints about employees or programs by calling (800) 869-4499 or online.

Much of the criticism of civil forfeiture has been focused on instances of law enforcement officers taking cash -- and often fairly small sums of cash -- they suspect is tied to criminal activity. The process doesn't require law enforcement to have any proof of a connection to a crime, and allows them to file charges against the property itself, often purely on the basis of that property's existence. Have $1000 in your car while driving on a highway that police consider a hot spot for drug dealers? Carrying cash in a backpack through a train station? That's drug money to some police officers, no matter what you say. They'll take it and you'll have to fight a legal battle to prove it wasn't.



Amtrak Passenger Claims DEA Agent Straight Up Stole $60 From His Wallet