11-02-2012, 02:27 AM
whodda thunk the good ol boys washed money just saying
THE MIAMI HERALD
> Posted on Wed, Oct. 31, 2012
>
> Feds to Bal Harbour: Hand over seized drug loot
> By Daniel Chang and Michael Sallah dchang@MiamiHerald.com
>
> The U.S. Justice Department shut down Bal Harbour’s celebrated federal
> forfeiture program and ordered the police to return more than $4
> million, slapping the agency with crushing sanctions for tapping into
> drug money to pay for first-class flights, luxury car rentals, and
> payments to informants across the country After years of seizing
> millions from criminals, Bal Harbour’s vice squad is now banned from the
> federal program that allowed the village police for years to seize cars,
> boats, and cash — and to keep a cut of the proceeds.
>
> In a scathing letter to Police Chief Thomas Hunker, federal agents are
> demanding the prompt surrender of the millions reeled in last year by a
> team that operates from a police trailer just blocks from the opulent
> Bal Harbour Shops.
>
> For years, the small coastal town known for speed traps became one of
> the most successful in Florida, with plainclothes cops jetting across
> the nation toting bags stuffed with cash from investigations that had no
> connection to Bal Harbour — and making few arrests.
>
> The findings, released on Tuesday, were also sent to Mayor Jean
> Rosenfield, who could not be reached for a comment.
>
> The action by the DOJ’s criminal division comes after a lengthy
> investigation that began last year with an audit and escalated into a
> deep probe that turned up a host of problems, including questionable
> expenses, hundreds of thousands paid to snitches, and missing records.
>
> Neither Hunker, 61, who founded the unit after becoming chief in 2003,
> nor Sgt. Paul Deitado, supervisor of the squad, returned calls on
> Tuesday for comments.
>
> One former prosecutor who ran the South Florida Money Laundering Strike
> Force said he was stunned by the development.
>
> “Bal Harbour is going to have to answer for their transgressions,” said
> David Macey, a former Miami-Dade assistant state attorney who
> specialized in forfeitures.
>
> “I’ve never read any correspondence to a law enforcement agency
> threatening the entire agency with penalties and criminal sanctions.”
> Former Bal Harbour Chief Alfred Treppeda, now village manager, said the
> village council will meet for a special session on Thursday to talk
> about the troubled program, now under criminal investigation.
>
> Treppeda declined to discuss the sanctions — among the toughest against
> any agency in the country. “We haven’t really had a chance to talk to
> the Department of Justice yet,’’ he said.
>
> The Miami Herald reported on Sunday that the police department — a
> small-town force that mostly writes traffic tickets — has doled out
> hundreds of thousands to snitches, ran up $23,704 in one month for
> cross-country trips with first-class flights and Cadillac and Lincoln
> Town Car rentals, and misspent seized funds on police salaries and benefits.
>
> The Herald found that two of the police officers were not even based in
> the village — but hundreds of miles away in Southern California and
> Florida’s west coast. Their roles: to manage the snitches.
>
> In less than four years, the unit paid $624,558 to the informants for
> tipping off cops to lucrative busts in New York, New Jersey, California,
> and other states, the newspaper found.
>
> On Tuesday, The Herald sued Bal Harbour over the village’s continued
> refusal to turn over all of the unit’s spending records.
>
> In the DOJ letter, federal agents accuse the village police of
> repeatedly failing to cooperate with auditors and refusing to turn over
> key records during the probe.
>
> Bal Harbour, which leads a task force with the Glades County sheriff’s :wink:
> office, helped seize $56 million in just three years — 2008 to 2011 —
> “without adequate written policies or procedures, prosecutorial
> oversight, or audits of undercover bank accounts,” said the DOJ.
>
> The DOJ blasted Bal Harbour for tapping into $709,836 to pay employees
> salaries and benefits, despite strict federal bans on such practices.
>
> Hunker told The Herald last week that all payments were approved by
> Treppeda and the village’s lawyers, Richard Weiss and Doug Gonzales.
>
> In addition, DOJ cited findings by Bal Harbour’s independent auditor
> that revealed dubious expenses, poor record-keeping, and a lack of controls.
>
> Because of the findings, the village is now forced to return $3.1
> million — the village’s cut of the seized drug money in fiscal 2011 —
> $407,969 in additional proceeds, and another $709,836 in money that was
> not supposed to be spent on salaries and benefits.
> Treppeda said the village has only about $2 million left in seized cash.
>
> The investigation comes after years of Bal Harbour showcasing the goods
> it purchased with forfeiture funds, including $100,000 for a 35-foot
> boat powered by three Mercury outboards, $108,000 for a mobile-command
> truck equipped with satellite and flat-screen TVs, and $21,000 for an
> anti-drug beach bash.
>
> In addition to the federal probe, other questions continue to nag the
> police about secret bank accounts funded with money from an entirely
> different pot: thousands paid by drug dealers to undercover cops to
> launder money and transport drugs.
>
> The Miami Herald’s lawsuit is seeking records of how those monies are
> used, including credit-card expenses for flights and hotels — and cops
> fronting cash to snitches.
>
> Brian Mulheren, a village resident and director of the Bal Harbour
> Citizens Coalition, said the group wrote a letter to U.S. Attorney
> General Eric Holder on Tuesday demanding a federal monitor to review the
> police department and the vice squad’s forfeiture program.
>
> “This is the most disgusting, disgraceful, despicable thing that could
> ever happen,’’ Mulheren said. “We want our village to be clean and
> honest, and the public officials we have obviously allowed this to
> occur.’’ It is unclear how long Bal Harbour PD’s ban from participating
> in the federal program will last. Another uncertainty is where Bal
> Harbour will find the money to return $4.2 million to the feds.
THE MIAMI HERALD
> Posted on Wed, Oct. 31, 2012
>
> Feds to Bal Harbour: Hand over seized drug loot
> By Daniel Chang and Michael Sallah dchang@MiamiHerald.com
>
> The U.S. Justice Department shut down Bal Harbour’s celebrated federal
> forfeiture program and ordered the police to return more than $4
> million, slapping the agency with crushing sanctions for tapping into
> drug money to pay for first-class flights, luxury car rentals, and
> payments to informants across the country After years of seizing
> millions from criminals, Bal Harbour’s vice squad is now banned from the
> federal program that allowed the village police for years to seize cars,
> boats, and cash — and to keep a cut of the proceeds.
>
> In a scathing letter to Police Chief Thomas Hunker, federal agents are
> demanding the prompt surrender of the millions reeled in last year by a
> team that operates from a police trailer just blocks from the opulent
> Bal Harbour Shops.
>
> For years, the small coastal town known for speed traps became one of
> the most successful in Florida, with plainclothes cops jetting across
> the nation toting bags stuffed with cash from investigations that had no
> connection to Bal Harbour — and making few arrests.
>
> The findings, released on Tuesday, were also sent to Mayor Jean
> Rosenfield, who could not be reached for a comment.
>
> The action by the DOJ’s criminal division comes after a lengthy
> investigation that began last year with an audit and escalated into a
> deep probe that turned up a host of problems, including questionable
> expenses, hundreds of thousands paid to snitches, and missing records.
>
> Neither Hunker, 61, who founded the unit after becoming chief in 2003,
> nor Sgt. Paul Deitado, supervisor of the squad, returned calls on
> Tuesday for comments.
>
> One former prosecutor who ran the South Florida Money Laundering Strike
> Force said he was stunned by the development.
>
> “Bal Harbour is going to have to answer for their transgressions,” said
> David Macey, a former Miami-Dade assistant state attorney who
> specialized in forfeitures.
>
> “I’ve never read any correspondence to a law enforcement agency
> threatening the entire agency with penalties and criminal sanctions.”
> Former Bal Harbour Chief Alfred Treppeda, now village manager, said the
> village council will meet for a special session on Thursday to talk
> about the troubled program, now under criminal investigation.
>
> Treppeda declined to discuss the sanctions — among the toughest against
> any agency in the country. “We haven’t really had a chance to talk to
> the Department of Justice yet,’’ he said.
>
> The Miami Herald reported on Sunday that the police department — a
> small-town force that mostly writes traffic tickets — has doled out
> hundreds of thousands to snitches, ran up $23,704 in one month for
> cross-country trips with first-class flights and Cadillac and Lincoln
> Town Car rentals, and misspent seized funds on police salaries and benefits.
>
> The Herald found that two of the police officers were not even based in
> the village — but hundreds of miles away in Southern California and
> Florida’s west coast. Their roles: to manage the snitches.
>
> In less than four years, the unit paid $624,558 to the informants for
> tipping off cops to lucrative busts in New York, New Jersey, California,
> and other states, the newspaper found.
>
> On Tuesday, The Herald sued Bal Harbour over the village’s continued
> refusal to turn over all of the unit’s spending records.
>
> In the DOJ letter, federal agents accuse the village police of
> repeatedly failing to cooperate with auditors and refusing to turn over
> key records during the probe.
>
> Bal Harbour, which leads a task force with the Glades County sheriff’s :wink:
> office, helped seize $56 million in just three years — 2008 to 2011 —
> “without adequate written policies or procedures, prosecutorial
> oversight, or audits of undercover bank accounts,” said the DOJ.
>
> The DOJ blasted Bal Harbour for tapping into $709,836 to pay employees
> salaries and benefits, despite strict federal bans on such practices.
>
> Hunker told The Herald last week that all payments were approved by
> Treppeda and the village’s lawyers, Richard Weiss and Doug Gonzales.
>
> In addition, DOJ cited findings by Bal Harbour’s independent auditor
> that revealed dubious expenses, poor record-keeping, and a lack of controls.
>
> Because of the findings, the village is now forced to return $3.1
> million — the village’s cut of the seized drug money in fiscal 2011 —
> $407,969 in additional proceeds, and another $709,836 in money that was
> not supposed to be spent on salaries and benefits.
> Treppeda said the village has only about $2 million left in seized cash.
>
> The investigation comes after years of Bal Harbour showcasing the goods
> it purchased with forfeiture funds, including $100,000 for a 35-foot
> boat powered by three Mercury outboards, $108,000 for a mobile-command
> truck equipped with satellite and flat-screen TVs, and $21,000 for an
> anti-drug beach bash.
>
> In addition to the federal probe, other questions continue to nag the
> police about secret bank accounts funded with money from an entirely
> different pot: thousands paid by drug dealers to undercover cops to
> launder money and transport drugs.
>
> The Miami Herald’s lawsuit is seeking records of how those monies are
> used, including credit-card expenses for flights and hotels — and cops
> fronting cash to snitches.
>
> Brian Mulheren, a village resident and director of the Bal Harbour
> Citizens Coalition, said the group wrote a letter to U.S. Attorney
> General Eric Holder on Tuesday demanding a federal monitor to review the
> police department and the vice squad’s forfeiture program.
>
> “This is the most disgusting, disgraceful, despicable thing that could
> ever happen,’’ Mulheren said. “We want our village to be clean and
> honest, and the public officials we have obviously allowed this to
> occur.’’ It is unclear how long Bal Harbour PD’s ban from participating
> in the federal program will last. Another uncertainty is where Bal
> Harbour will find the money to return $4.2 million to the feds.