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Thursday, August 07, 2008
Ind. Courts - More again today on the Delaware County drug forfeiture investigation
The most recent ILB entry on the drug forfeiture investigation in Delaware County was Aug. 6. Today Rick Yencer of the Muncie Star-Press reports in a story that begins:
Delaware Circuit Court 2 Judge Richard Dailey on Wednesday concluded his series of hearings on the handling of forfeitures and seizures in local drug-related cases, making no finding of criminal activity.
Advertisement"That is something left to someone else to do," said Dailey, referring to a grand jury or special prosecutor.
Dailey reviewed 10 more cases Wednesday in which the Muncie-Delaware County Drug Task Force, Delaware County Prosecutor Mark McKinney and Deputy Prosecutor Eric Hoffman used confidential settlements or affidavits to seize and disperse the money and assets of alleged drug dealers.
While state law requires that such money be placed local government and school funs, the DTF maintained separate city accounts and checkbooks in which they deposited and spent hundreds of thousands of dollars over the past decade and equipment, vehicle, charitable donations and other expenses.
Dailey spoke from the bench to McKinney and Hoffman, along with city attorney Charles "Chic" Clark, after Wednesday's hearing, saying he had not seen evidence of criminal activities by police in the nearly 40 cases he had reviewed so far.
Posted by Marcia Oddi on August 7, 2008 09:31 AM
Posted to Indiana Courts