Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, June 15, 1990 TAG: 9006150364
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LESLIE TAYLOR STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Standing before a table with a sign that read "What you seize is what you get," U.S. Attorney John Perry Alderman and U.S. Marshal Wayne Beaman passed out checks totaling $454,043 to police and sheriff's departments and the Virginia ABC Board.
All were rewarded for helping the federal government in drug investigations and raids. Amounts ranged from $1,935 (Mecklenberg County Sheriff's Department) to $178,201 (Roanoke Police Department).
"We haven't had any million dollar forfeitures yet," Alderman told a crowd assembled in a fourth-floor room at the Poff Federal Building. "Maybe we don't have those major drug dealers out here yet. I'd like to think we can catch them all before they become that successful."
In forfeitures, property seized - such as real estate and automobiles - is maintained, managed and sold. Ten percent goes to the federal government to cover the cost of managing the property. Ninety percent goes back to law-enforcement agencies that participated in the investigations.
The money - called "equitable sharing" - is to be used to enhance local law enforcement, Alderman said.
For example, Salem last year applied money given to the city by the federal government toward the purchase of 83 semiautomatic weapons for its police and sheriff's departments.
Two years ago, Franklin County used money to fund start-up costs for a school drug education program.
Alderman said the $454,043 was the largest amount distributed to agencies in the Western District at one time.
by CNB