USA v. $164705 US Currency, et al

Filing 358

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER: The Report and Recommendation (Docket No. 329 ) is ACCEPTED and made the findings of fact and conclusions of law of this court. For the reasons expressed therein, it is hereby ORDERED that the currency in the amount of $1 64,705 and the currency in the amount of $19,000 are hereby FORFEITED to the United States of America, and the $4,300 shall be returned to the claimant as not forfeitable. It is so ORDERED. Enter this 14th day of June 2013. Signed by District Judge Aleta A. Trauger on 6/14/2013. (xc:Pro se party by regular and certified mail.)(DOCKET TEXT SUMMARY ONLY-ATTORNEYS MUST OPEN THE PDF AND READ THE ORDER.)(eh)

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE
MIDDLE DISTRICT OF TENNESSEE
NASHVILLE DIVISION

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,

)
)
Plaintiff,
)
v.
)
)
$164,705.00 IN UNITED STATES CURRENCY, )
$19,000.00 IN UNITED STATES CURRENCY, )
and $4,300.00 IN UNITED STATES CURRENCY, )
)
Defendants.
)
)
KENNETH LAMONT CRUTCHER,
)
)
Claimant.
)

Civil No. 3:04-0270
Judge Trauger

MEMORANDUM and ORDER
On December 7, 2012, the Magistrate Judge issued a Report and Recommendation
(Docket No. 329), to which the pro se claimant, Kenneth Lamont Crutcher, has filed Objections
(Docket No. 344), to which the plaintiff has responded (Docket No. 354). Because this Report
and Recommendation relates to a dispositive matter, pursuant to 72(b); FED. R. CIV. P., and 28
U.S.C. § 636(b)(1)(C); this court must review de novo any portion of the Report and
Recommendation to which a specific objection is made. United States v. Curtis, 237 F.3d 598,
603 (6th Cir. 2001); Massey v. City of Ferndale, 7 F.3d 506, 510 (6th Cir. 1993).
This forfeiture proceeding has a tortuous history, which this court will not repeat but
which is set out in great detail in the various opinions issued by the Magistrate Judge and this
court over the course of the last three years (Docket Nos. 77, 184, 245, 329).

1

Crutcher’s objections primarily reiterate the arguments he has maintained throughout this
proceeding, disagreeing with the Magistrate Judge’s view of the evidence and his conclusions as
to the credibility of the various witnesses and Crutcher. The Magistrate Judge held a two-day
evidentiary hearing and was in the best position to judge the credibility of the witnesses and of
Crutcher. The Magistrate Judge concluded that, upon his arrest on October 27, 2003, Crutcher
had in his car $164,705 in cash drug proceeds that, he admitted to officers, he was on his way to
deliver to a co-conspirator. The cash was bundled and wrapped with rubber bands and sorted by
denomination, as is typical of drug proceeds. Several officers/agents testified to these facts, and
the Magistrate Judge found their testimony credible. The Magistrate Judge also found that the
$19,000 found in the drawer of a chest at the defendant’s residence, which likewise was bundled
and wrapped with rubber bands and sorted by denominations, was also drug proceeds subject to
forfeiture. He found that the additional $4,300 found at Crutcher’s residence under a couch in
the master bedroom was not drug proceeds, based upon testimony that Crutcher often kept
amounts of cash of this sort stashed around his house.
On March 1, 2005, Crutcher was convicted by jury trial of a conspiracy to distribute
marijuana and cocaine that ended on October 27, 2003 and several other drug-related and
weapons offenses. See Criminal Case No. 3:03-cr-00205. The Magistrate Judge found that the
plaintiff/government had established, by a preponderance of the evidence, that the two bundles
of currency (in the amounts of $164,705 and $19,000) were used to commit or facilitate the
commission of a drug offense and that there was a substantial connection between that property
and the drug offenses of which Crutcher was convicted. 18 U.S.C. § 983(c)(1)(3). Crutcher’s
objections do not convince the court that the Magistrate Judge’s conclusions and

2

recommendations are in error and they are, therefore, OVERRULED. The Report and
Recommendation (Docket No. 329) is ACCEPTED and made the findings of fact and
conclusions of law of this court. For the reasons expressed therein, it is hereby ORDERED that
the currency in the amount of $164,705 and the currency in the amount of $19,000 are hereby
FORFEITED to the United States of America, and the $4,300 shall be returned to the claimant
as not forfeitable.
It is so ORDERED.
Enter this 14th day of June 2013.

___________________________________
ALETA A. TRAUGER
United States District Judge

3