After a trip where he expected to buy farmland, a Vietnamese immigrant and his business partner are fighting to get back more than $100,000 seized by Oklahoma police who allege that it was drug money.
in Canadian County between 2010 and 2015 involved minorities. Nine other counties in Oklahoma, including the six largest, had roughly the same percentage over that five-year time period, according to Oklahoma Watch.
Canadian County straddles Interstate 40, a major drug trafficking corridor that runs from California to the North Carolina coast. The county sheriff’s office and the Oklahoma Highway Patrol devote substantial resources to combating it. Butand local defense attorneys argue that law enforcement uses the focus on drug interdiction as cover for stopping and searching vehicles on flimsy pretenses.
Canadian County Sheriff Chris West declined to comment on the use of civil forfeiture or the case of Liu and Thai. A well-known figure in Oklahoma, West faced controversy earlier this year when it emerged that heprotesting former President Trump’s election loss. He said he walked to the Capitol but did not enter the building or participate in mob violence.
Seeking a safe investment, he said he began studying vertical farming, which involves growing crops in vertical stacks using hydroponics, and looking around for a cheap piece of land to purchase. He found a partner in Liu, who he met through the Albuquerque restaurant scene. After the interrogations were over and the deputies let the men go, they received no paperwork related to the forfeiture, Thai said. Campbell, the local defense lawyer not involved in the case, said law enforcement is supposed to issue property receipts detailing what was seized but doesn't always do so.
Oklahoma legalized medical marijuana in 2018. Under state law, at least 75 percent of a medical marijuana business must be owned by an Oklahoma resident for it to be licensed.
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