On the morning of Sept. 25, 2014, Tom Bednar was sitting in the bedroom of the Raleigh, N.C., home he shared with his wife, Marla, and two sons when Marla entered the room crying.
She had just looked at the bank account for their three-decade old business, Marla Enterprises, to find it empty. Now, Capital Bank was requesting close to $18,000 to cover the outstanding checks the couple had written.
After transferring money to straighten out their finances with the bank, the Bednars learned just what had happened with the $115,018.01 they had in their bank account: The United States Secret Service seized the money.
“We got no warning,” Tom Bednar said in an interview with The Daily Signal. “Nothing.”
After months of litigation against the United States government, Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephen West moved to dismiss the case earlier this month, meaning the Bednars will get their money back.
However, the government refused to cover the Bednar’s $25,000 in legal fees, which the couple is entitled to under the Civil Asset Forfeiture Reform Act. Though the fight to get their $115,000 back is now over, the family is continuing to push to have their expenses covered.
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