ABILENE, Kansas (Missouri Impartial) — The dashboard digicam video exhibits eastbound Interstate 70 site visitors whizzing previous Dickinson County sheriff’s deputy Kalen Robison’s patrol automobile, which is parked crosswise within the median about three miles west of Abilene.
Robison instantly pulls out into the left lane, accelerates quickly and inside a few miles pulls behind a white van, which instantly strikes onto the shoulder and stops. As he walks as much as the passenger-side window of the van, which seems to be an armored automobile, he tells dispatchers he believes the van has Colorado plates.
Robison tells the motive force he pulled her over as a result of the tag was partially obscured, then asks what she is hauling.
From this site visitors cease, a collection of occasions unspooled that resulted in additional than $1.2 million being seized in what an legal professional describes in a court docket submitting as “the repeated and persevering with freeway robberies of armored automobiles by authorities brokers.”
The following day, Might 18, 2021, Robison once more stopped the van, this time seizing greater than $165,000. By that point, regulation enforcement officers had positioned tag numbers of automobiles owned by Empyreal Logistics, the armored automobile firm, right into a nationwide database that enables high-speed computerized license plate readers to scan site visitors and spot the automobiles.
On Nov. 16, the San Bernardino County, California, Sheriff’s Workplace stopped one other Empyreal armored automobile and seized about $700,000. On Dec. 9, San Bernardino officers once more stopped an Empyreal armored automobile, this time seizing about $350,000.
The premise for the seizures? In line with Empyreal, the armored automobiles are transporting money from state-licensed marijuana dispensaries to monetary establishments, equivalent to credit score unions or banks.
“Shocked isn’t the half of it,” mentioned Dierdra O’Gorman, Empyreal’s founder and CEO, describing her response on studying that the cash from one of many firm’s armored automobiles had been seized in Kansas. “I’ve been a banker my total profession — 26 years within the banking trade.”
After the California seizures, Empyreal filed a federal lawsuit in opposition to a number of regulation enforcement businesses demanding the federal authorities cease these “freeway robberies.” On Monday, the court docket denied Empyreal’s request for a brief restraining order.
“The court docket is compelled to specific its issues relating to Empyreal’s litigation ways,” District Choose John W. Holcomb wrote.
Holcomb suggested attorneys for Empyreal to cease reducing procedural corners and reminded them of their obligation to be candid with the court docket.
Info gathered from interviews, court docket paperwork, police experiences, and a viewing of the dashboard digicam video expose battle between federal and state legal guidelines relating to marijuana, and the eagerness of regulation enforcement officers to justify their urge to “smash” Empyreal into submission.
Dealing with marijuana cash
O’Gorman established Empyreal in June 2018 within the Denver space. In the present day it operates in 28 states.
“I made a decision to begin Empyreal with hopes of attempting to repair a number of the challenges that I skilled on the opposite facet of the service mannequin, being a monetary establishment working with armored automobile firms,” O’Gorman mentioned. “I’ve prided myself on my profession being targeted on compliance and serving to monetary establishments with their Financial institution Secrecy Act and Anti-Cash Laundering (Act) compliance. It’s been all the things that we do and each a part of the equation for us, ensuring that we’re following the principles.”
O’Gorman mentioned many individuals assume there aren’t any banks or different monetary establishments that may settle for cash from marijuana dispensaries. There are numerous that may — no less than 700 nationwide, she mentioned — however the banks impose rigorous reporting and record-keeping necessities.
“It’s a fairly hefty compliance record,” she mentioned.
There are background checks, verification of the place cash comes from and the place it goes, and monitoring of who will get paid.
“All of this stuff are scrutinized at a stage that in my 26-year banking profession I’ve by no means seen earlier than,” she mentioned.
O’Gorman mentioned she is cautious to work solely with monetary establishments that comply with these stringent tips.
The seizures by regulation enforcement come up from the truth that whereas 18 states have legalized leisure marijuana use, and its medicinal use is authorized in 36 states, the federal authorities nonetheless considers each medicinal and leisure marijuana use unlawful.
So does Kansas.
Seizing money, automobiles and weapons passing by way of Kansas has turn into a high-stakes exercise. In line with Kansas Bureau of Investigation information, Kansas regulation enforcement businesses since 2019 have seized $8 million, almost all from motorists, with the Kansas Freeway Patrol accounting for half of the forfeitures.
That’s from solely the circumstances which were resolved. It might probably take years for the disposition of seized money and automobiles to be decided, and it’s not till disposition that particulars are reported to the KBI.
Civil forfeitures are a course of that enables regulation enforcement businesses to grab money, automobiles, private property, actual property and weapons they believe have been concerned in a criminal offense. They don’t must arrest the proprietor or convict them of a criminal offense. Half the cash seized in Kansas since 2019 — greater than $4 million — was forfeited with out a legal case being filed, in line with information supplied by the KBI.
Officers want solely exhibit a connection between the property and a criminal offense. However they’re speculated to have a authentic cause for making a site visitors cease.
“The Fourth Modification requires no less than affordable suspicion or possible trigger to cease a automobile,” mentioned Dan Alban, senior legal professional with the nonprofit Institute for Justice, which helps characterize Empyreal within the California lawsuit. “The way in which freeway interdiction works is you get behind the automobile and also you give you the excuse to tug it over. … For those who comply with somebody lengthy sufficient, they’re going to commit some minor site visitors infraction.”
Confusion over drug legal guidelines
A request filed beneath the Kansas Open Data Act for copies of experiences and recordings made by the dashboard digicam have been partially granted. There was no offense report written for the Might 17 cease, however a duplicate of the offense report for the Might 18 cease and seizure was supplied, and a reporter was allowed to view the recorded video.
Throughout the first cease, it didn’t take Robison lengthy to tug over the Empyreal van. And he wasted no time asking the motive force what was within the van, and the place she was going. The driving force shortly defined she was on her approach to decide up money from marijuana dispensaries in Missouri and drive it again to Colorado.
She defined precisely how the cash is saved and invited Robison to see the within for himself. O’Gorman mentioned all the corporate’s drivers endure in depth coaching in learn how to work together with regulation enforcement. The corporate’s chief of operations is a former sheriff.
“We’re very clear about what we’re doing,” O’Gorman mentioned.
A basic purpose is to assist regulation enforcement perceive the aim of her armored automobiles.
“We all know that it’s an advanced patchwork of guidelines and rules,” she mentioned. “We wish to guarantee that everyone understands.”
On this case, that effort was not profitable. The driving force’s candor set off a flurry of calls between Robison, the Drug Enforcement Administration and the U.S. Legal professional’s Workplace in Wichita, which will be heard on the video recording.
After some preliminary head-scratching, Drug Enforcement Administration agent Bryson Wheeler admitted to be puzzled.
“I don’t assume that’s essentially unlawful,” he informed Robison. “It’s simply unusual as hell. It looks as if they’re a financial institution working as not a financial institution.”
The authorities are conscious that medicinal marijuana is authorized in Missouri, however a couple of minutes later Wheeler throws out a cause why the exercise is prohibited.
“Wheeler calls officer Robison and claims that hashish proceeds should keep within the state the place hashish is authorized and can’t be transported throughout state traces,” mentioned David Bass, a former deputy legal professional normal in California who labored within the Monetary Fraud and Particular Prosecutions Unit, in a declaration filed on behalf of Empyreal within the California lawsuit. “That is incorrect. Based mostly on my skilled expertise, there isn’t any regulation indicating that proceeds turn into unlawful after they depart a state.”
Within the cellphone name to Robison, Wheeler continues to attempt to give you a approach to determine precisely what is prohibited in regards to the armored automobile taking cash from Missouri companies to deposit in a monetary establishment in Colorado.
At one level within the dialog, “Wheeler claims that Empyreal’s operations are bulk money smuggling,” Bass mentioned in his declaration.
O’Gorman mentioned the confusion by regulation enforcement is strictly what the coaching of the corporate’s drivers is meant to keep away from.
“We solely work with monetary establishments … that supply providers to hashish companies,” she mentioned. “We’ll have Empyreal go decide up the funds after they’ve been validated by the financial institution or credit score union, after which we carry these funds again to monetary establishments. So we’re working with them solely after all the due diligence has been executed to guarantee that these funds got here from lawful … gross sales.”
She was baffled by the cash laundering hypothesis.
“In the event that they thought there was cash laundering occurring, why wouldn’t they’ve contacted the monetary establishment?” she requested. “Why wouldn’t they’ve confiscated the funds on the enterprise?”
‘Smash them into submission’
The conversations between Robison and Wheeler grew to become animated as they reassured themselves this was a genuinely unlawful operation, and it was clear Empyreal’s armored automobiles have been ferrying money in half the states within the nation.
They mentioned placing tag numbers from Empyreal’s armored automobiles right into a nationwide database that enables regulation enforcement officers to make use of high-speed license plate readers to identify Empyreal vans throughout the nation.
“Smash them into submission,” Wheeler mentioned.
Bass described a number of the dialog in his declaration.
“After deciding to put all of Empyreal’s automobiles into the (license plate reader), agent Wheeler notes that Empyreal will struggle the seizures, however regulation enforcement ought to ‘crush each one among their automobiles that they will determine,’ ” Bass mentioned. “Agreeing with agent Wheeler’s plan, across the 36:50 mark of the recording, officer (Robison) states, ‘We’ll begin taking all of them down directly.’ ”
Robison then informed the Empyreal driver she was free to go, however not earlier than volunteering to take away the offending license plate body.
The following day, because the van headed again to Colorado after making stops to select up money from Missouri dispensaries, Robison pulled the van over close to the Enterprise exit on I-70. The site visitors cease took almost three hours. The sheriff’s workplace seized 5 baggage of money that, in line with the offense report filed in reference to the case, contained $165,855.
Harming authorized enterprise
Alban, the Institute for Justice legal professional, hopes to point out the DEA failed to remain in its lane.
Federal regulation prohibits the U.S. Division of Justice — the guardian company of the DEA and FBI, amongst others — from spending cash to stop states from “implementing their very own state legal guidelines that authorize the use, distribution, possession, or cultivation of medical marijuana.”
The prohibition was initially often known as the Rohrabacher–Farr Modification and have become regulation in 2014. The restriction has been hooked up to DOJ funding yearly since.
“I believe on this case (Rohrabacher-Farr) presents a extremely significant issue for them as a result of they knew from the time of the Might 17 cease that the motive force was going to go to medical hashish dispensaries in Kansas Metropolis, Missouri,” Alban mentioned. “They’ve the names of these dispensaries on the manifest. They need to have recognized that Missouri doesn’t have leisure hashish. The one hashish dispensaries working legally with a state license in Missouri are going to be medical hashish dispensaries.”
The Kansas Metropolis Star reported in November that the manifest for the journey lists four medical marijuana dispensaries in Missouri: BesaMe Wellness in Smithville and two From the Earth places in Kansas Metropolis and one other in Independence.
The truth that the cease was in Kansas, which has not legalized marijuana use, is of no consequence, Alban mentioned, as a result of regardless of the place the seizure takes place, it harms legally working hashish companies.
After the Might 17 cease, “they went and did the surveillance on Might 18 in Kansas Metropolis of the Empyreal automobile choosing up the proceeds from these dispensaries,” Alban mentioned.
“From the very get-go, they knew it was medical hashish and that they might be seizing medical hashish proceeds, and they aren’t speculated to be spending any funds to try this, together with spending cash on surveillance outdoors of medical hashish dispensaries in Missouri,” Alban mentioned.
On Sept. 3, 2021, the U.S. Legal professional’s Workplace filed a civil forfeiture case in federal court docket in Kansas Metropolis, asking the court docket to let it preserve $165,620 taken from the Empyreal armored automobile.
Requests for interviews with regulation enforcement officers have been refused. The Dickinson County Sheriff’s Workplace mentioned the case has been turned over to the Drug Enforcement Administration. A DEA spokesperson directed all inquiries to the U.S. Legal professional’s Workplace.
Danielle Thomas, public data officer for the U.S. Legal professional’s Workplace in Wichita, declined to reply any questions.
“We don’t focus on open circumstances,” she mentioned.
This story was initially revealed by the Kansas Reflector, a States Newsroom affiliate.
Missouri Independent is a part of States Newsroom, a community of reports bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Missouri Impartial maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Jason Hancock for questions: [email protected]. Observe Missouri Impartial on Facebook and Twitter.
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