A Nevadan couple is fighting back after law enforcement in Kansas seized $32,100 in cash. Back in March, Salvador Franco and his girlfriend, Liliana Ramirez, were driving along I-70 after having just decided not to buy a truck in cash. While stopped at a gas station, a Kansas Highway Patrol Trooper confronted Franco for not having a front license plate, though that is not illegal in Kansas.
When Franco refused to consent to a search, the officer detained him and called for a drug dog, even though the Supreme Court has ruled that police cannot extend a routine traffic stop to bring a drug dog to the scene absent probable cause. When the dog alerted, police used that as justification to search the car. Inside, they found Franco’s cash, but no drugs or anything else illegal.
Nevertheless, troopers handcuffed the couple and brought them to the police station, where they were interrogated separately and threatened with 10 years in prison. Despite filing no criminal charges, Kansas police seized the cash.
“On that day my whole life changed,” Franco said. “I was robbed by our own police officers that are here to protect and serve us.”
