Jurors awarded an Alabama couple $1 million after officers took thousands of dollars from them in a warrantless raid that left them broke and living in a shed.
A Randolph County Sheriff's Office deputy in January 2018 showed up at the home of Gregory and Teresa Almond in Woodland, Alabama, to serve Greg with civil papers, Reason magazine reported. The deputy left, but reported smelling marijuana.
Hours later, a drug squad broke down the door, threw a flash grenade that detonated at Greg's feet, and began ransacking the couple's home.
Police in Alabama raided Greg and Teresa Almond's home in 2018 without a warrant and seized a small amount of marijuana, as well as thousands of dollars in cash and other valuables. Six years later, a jury awarded the couple $1 million in damages. (iStock)
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“I'm confused, I feel violated, I think the people who are supposed to serve you and protect you basically just dropped a bomb in my lap,” Greg said in a 2019 Reason article.
Police found a marijuana plant, part of a joint, a glass pipe and some leaves. They also seized about $8,000 in cash, a single Lunesta pill, Greg's gun collection and other valuables, according to media reports.
The Almonds' son told authorities the marijuana was his, but his parents were charged with second-degree possession of marijuana and felony possession of a controlled substance because the Lunesta pill was out of the Almonds' prescription bottle. Greg, the Alabama Appleseed Center for Law and Justice reported.
The charges were later dropped, but without the money seized, the Almonds were unable to pay their mortgage and lost their home, according to case records. They moved into a shed on a family member's property.
Alabama police collected about $2.2 million through civil asset forfeiture in 2015, according to a report by the Southern Poverty Law Center and the Alabama Appleseed Center. No charges were filed in a quarter of the seizures. (iStock)
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Police confiscated the couple's money and belongings through a process known as confiscation of civil assets. Its goal is to punish criminal activity by depriving criminals of property that is used or acquired through illegal activities.
But critics have called it “legal theft” Arguing that police and prosecutors often abuse the practice, taking money from innocent Americans to fill their own coffers.
The Almonds filed a federal lawsuit, alleging that police violated their Fourth Amendment rights against unreasonable searches and seizures.
In January, a jury awarded the Almonds $1 million in punitive and compensatory damages.
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None of those involved in the raid had a written search warrant. A deputy testified that he spoke to a judge on the phone and believed she had granted him a telephone search warrant, but the judge “emphatically denied… having ever issued” such an order, according to an Alabama appeals court (emphasis added).
“It's made me distrust authorities at all levels,” Greg previously told Reason. “As I walk down the street I can see a police officer or a state trooper, it's not like they're doing anything wrong, and it's like my adrenaline goes up. My heart pounds when I see them.”
The Randolph County Sheriff's Office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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Alabama law enforcement collected about $2.2 million through civil asset forfeiture in 2015, according to a report by the Southern Poverty Law Center and the Alabama Appleseed Center. A quarter of those seizures did not involve any criminal charges, according to the report.
In 2019, the Alabama legislature passed a bill requiring law enforcement and district attorneys to report all assets seized, as well as how much of the budget revenue from the seizure they account for.
