U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency to return retiree's $82K in seized cash

An Allegheny County retiree who lost his life savings when the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency seized $82,373 in cash from his daughter as she attempted to board a flight at Pittsburgh International Airport late last summer will get his money back, his lawyers said Wednesday.

Attorneys with the Institute for Justice filed suit on behalf of Terry Rolin, a 79-year-old railroad retiree from the South Fayette village of Morgan. They said the DEA notified Rolin that his cash will be returned once he fills out a form for the agency.

The agency seized the cash from Rolin’s daughter, Rebecca Brown, as she attempted to board a plane for her home in Boston after attending a family wedding in Western Pennsylvania in August.

Brown said her father, who had squirreled away cash for years in hiding places at his home, entrusted her with his savings late that weekend and asked her to open a joint account and help him manage his savings. Since no banks were open before her flight, Brown said she stashed the cash in her carry-on and planned to open an account when she arrived home.

Transportation Safety Administration agents, however, notified the DEA when they found the money. An agent for the agency subsequently seized the money. And, in October, Brown received a civil forfeiture notice from the DEA, informing her the agency intended to keep the cash citing “a broad catchall about seizing anything related to controlled substances.”

In January, father and daughter filed a federal lawsuit against the DEA and the TSA seeking the return of the money and an end to the agencies’ practice of seizing cash from air travelers without probable cause.

Rebecca Brown said she’s glad the government agencies have agreed to return her father’s money.

“I’m grateful that my father’s life savings will soon be returned, but the money never should have been taken in the first place. I can’t believe they’re not even offering an apology for the stress and pain they caused for my family,” she said. “Without this money, my father was forced to put off necessary dental work — causing him serious pain for several months — and could not make critical repairs to his truck. The government shouldn’t be able to take money for no reason, hang on to it for months and then give it back like nothing happened, which is why the lawsuit we filed will continue. No one should be forced to go through this nightmare.”

Institute for Justice senior attorney Dan Alban said the organization documented the practice elsewhere across the country and intends to continue pressing its class-action suit against the federal agencies in an attempt to halt the practice of seizing cash simply based on the amount of money travelers are carrying. The organization noted that it is legal to carry cash on domestic flights.

“We are glad that Terry will get his money back, but it is shameful that it takes a lawsuit and an international outcry for the federal government to do the right thing,” Alban said. “We know that this routinely happens to other travelers at airports across the United States. Terry and Rebecca are going to fight on until TSA and DEA end their unconstitutional and unlawful practices of seizing cash from air travelers without probable cause or reasonable suspicion.”