Jewelry business fights to reclaim seized money in civil forfeiture case
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A California-based family jewelry business is now trying to prove that money seized at the Indianapolis FedEx center belonged to them, and was not associated with any criminal business.
Earlier this year, Henry and Minh Cheng made a bulk sale to a retailer in Virginia, who was slow to submit payment.
A few months after the sale, in April, the retailer informed the couple that she could pay promptly with cash. Henry and Minh agreed to accept payment for the merchandise in cash.
The retailer shipped the cash payment of $42,825 through FedEx, and the parcel was routed through the Indianapolis FedEx hub, the second largest FedEx hub in the United States.
There, a police officer seized the package and presented it to a K-9. The police dog alerted to it, allowing the police to get a search warrant to open the parcel.
After an officer found the cash in the parcel, Marion County Prosecutor Ryan Mears filed a civil forfeiture action to keep all of the money.
As with other civil forfeiture cases originating from the FedEx facility, the prosecutors alleged that the cash was proceeds of “a violation of a criminal statute.”
“The Indiana government cannot take money from people just because a shipping company routes it through Indiana,” Institute for Justice Attorney Marie Miller, who is representing the Chengs, said in a news release. “Henry and Minh have never been to Indiana or done business in Indiana, but now they have to defend against a forfeiture action in Indiana, without the state bothering to identify an Indiana crime that it can allege the money is linked to.”
The Marion County Prosecutor’s Office responded to request for comment stating they do not comment on pending litigation.
The Chengs have never done business in Indiana, nor have they ever been to the Hoosier state.
“There’s no link to any alleged wrongdoing in Indiana, and the parcel is in Indiana purely as a result of the happenstance of FedEx as routing practices,” Miller said in a press conference Monday morning.
According to the Institute for Justice, Indiana has begun proceedings to seize more than $2.5 million from in-transit parcels, and the state has already raked in approximately $1 million from those parcels.
“The fact that they’re fighting against Indiana’s abusive practices is remarkable,” Miller said of the Chengs.
The Chengs have had their business for 30 years and this is the first time something like this has happened to them.
Henry Cheng said during a Monday press conference that he hopes he can change what Indiana is doing by creating civil forfeiture cases by intercepting packages traveling to legit businesses.
“The government can’t even identify a crime that would allow them to keep the money that we need to run our business,” Henry said. “We were shocked when we found out what was going on in Indianapolis and we want to put a stop to it.”
Last week the Institute for Justice filed a response to the forfeiture complaint in Marion Superior Court along with counterclaims alleging Indiana violated the company’s rights and those of classes of people in similar situations.
“This scheme is one of the most predatory we have seen, and it’s past time to put a stop to it,” IJ Senior Attorney Sam Gedge said in a news release. “It’s illegal and unconstitutional for Indiana to forfeit in-transit money whose only connection to Indiana is the happenstance of FedEx’s shipping practices.”
According to MyCase, a hearing is scheduled for 9 a.m. on Sept. 16 on the motion for class certification.
The case is State of Indiana v. Patrick H., Henry Minh, 49D04-2405-MI-020041.