He doesn’t deserve what he got. If he’s guilty of anything, it’s only of poor research and too little common sense. He called the cops and asked them to help safeguard his money. And the cops, of course, took it. I say “of course,” which may seem unfair. Not all cops are robbers. But it’s true that too many policemen think too little about the justice of the laws and orders they are asked to obey.
In this case, there seems to be a law against holding cash. Robert R. Reiner had $350,000 of his father’s money that he wished to deposit in the bank. He asked the police to help provide security. They called the feds and the feds took the money presumably on the principle of guilty until proven innocent. Drug dealers carry cash; maybe Reiner is a drug dealer; take the money.
The feds claim the family’s house has been “under investigation” as a possible source of drug production. But this claim seems to have surfaced only after the fact. Reiner says his dad had originally withdrawn the money from the bank. And the paperwork he presents in his suit to get the money back shows that his father had indeed made the claimed withdrawals, belying the notion that the money originated in drug trades.
In any case, the cash has been grabbed despite no evidence of wrongdoing. Reiner is trying to get it back. He’s also caring for his 80-year-old father, who has suffered a toll from all this.
This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.