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Outgoing Sheriff went on forfeiture-backed spending spree

With Chairman John Whitmire and the Texas Senate Criminal Justice Committee poised to exercise greater oversight over asset forfeiture accounts controlled by local law enforcement agencies, a reader points to an example from the chairman's home county which shows how such monies are subject to whimsical, unregulated and politicized spending. According to Click2Houston.com (Feb. 6):Sheriff's department records reviewed by Local 2 Investigates show that former Sheriff Tommy Thomas began draining the department's asset forfeiture account shortly after his November defeat at the polls.The account is comprised of money seized from drug dealers and other criminals, and it was successfully used in the 1990s to build a state-of-the-art firearms training range in Atascocita...continue to full post

Full post as published by Grits for Breakfast on February 14, 2009 (boomark / email).