Posted on 04/01/2010 12:56:20 AM PDT by Palter
Judge rules gospel tracts aren't counterfeit money
A judge ruled in favor of a Denton ministry who sued the federal government over the illegal seizure of "million-dollar bill" gospel tracts.
In 2006, the U.S. Secret Service confiscated 83 packs of the gospel tracts, which resemble million-dollar bills. The ministry's tracts feature a "million-dollar question" and asks readers, "Will you go to heaven?" The tracts also include a brief test and Bible excerpts.
Darrel Rundus, president of the Great News Network ministry, said the Secret Service made the seizure illegally without a search warrant and threatened to arrest a GNN member if he did not turn over the tracts.
U.S. District Court Judge Jorge Solis ruled the Secret Service agents violated the Fourth Amendment by seizing the tracts without a warrant and ordered the agents to return the gospel tracts.
In his court opinion, Solis also said the "million-dollar bills" bear "no real resemblance of genuine U.S. currency" and are not counterfeit money.
"The United States Treasury has never made currency in the denomination of $1,000,000," court documents state.
After four years of legal action, Rundus said he was pleased with the ruling.
"We thank God for vindicating The Great News Network and for a good and just ruling by Judge Solis," Rundus said in a written statement. "This case and the ruling clearly illustrate how the U.S. Constitution and the protections it provides citizens from illegal activity by the government are alive and well today."
Cranking up my printer as we speak! LOL
Heck the fed has ben printing counterfiet money since 1965.
Hey, that’s NOT real!
Everybody knows the REAL trillion dollar bill has the face of King Ray Ray on it.
I think that trillion dollar bill is BHOgus.
Solis noted that the agents went to the office and confronted workers, demanding the tracts. The workers told the agents ministry leader Darrel Rundus was the only person who could give them permission to take the privately owned property. Rundus had said he would cooperate if the agents got a warrant or a court order, which they had chosen not to do.
According to the court's opinion, the agents then threatened arrest if the workers did not cooperate.
"Agent [Mickey] Kennedy was not subtle in the manner by which he implied that he was taking the Million Dollar Bills with him no matter what – even if it meant arresting Mr. [Timothy] Crawford in the process. The facts and circumstances surrounding Agent Kennedy's statements to Mr. Crawford on June 2, 2006, leave no doubt that Mr. Crawford believed he would be arrested if he did not retrieve the Million Dollar Bills from the closed closet in which they were hidden out of the agents' sight," the judge ruled.
"Agent Kennedy's coercive tactics not only resulted in an unconstitutional search and seizure, it also resulted in bringing disrepute to the noble profession of law enforcement," Solis wrote.
Further, the judge concluded that the agents involved in the seizure later "conspired together to cover up the actual events that took place at GNN's office.
"Agents Kennedy and [Erin] Erdman persisted in covering up these events BY BEING UNTRUTHFUL WHEN THEY TOOK THE WITNESS STAND DURING THE BENCH TRIAL FOR THIS CASE," the judge concluded.
IF these Jack-Booted, THUGS, do NOT face perjury charges (and hopefully end up with as much time as Scooter Libby did) then it is a blatant example of how if one has a badge and a gun and especially if one works for the Fed Constabulary, one can get away with breaking our laws with impunity and proves what many of us have long suspected, that there is a major double standards when it comes to the conduct of the Dept of Treasury LEA's.
IF Ramos and Compean could be made an example of, then these 2 should as well, if not more so!!!
Nobody in his right mind, having gotten a “Million Dollar Bill” in his hands, could mistake it for money. It doesn’t feel like paper money and the other side is printed with very non-money-like content. It looks only enough like money to arouse curiosity from a distance. I think all the Feds involved must have been Rats.
They won’t.
I can see why the Feds are worried.
We’ll soon be using Million dollar bills to buy bread.
They’ve probably already received an award.
“being untruthful when they took the stand” is the Judge calling them out for the liars they really are. If I were an attorney with those clowns, Micky Kennedy and Erin Erdman, on a case, I would get it into every trial that a judge called them out as liars.
I hope so.
So where are the criminal charges against the thuggish Federal agents?
“...it also resulted in bringing disrepute to the noble profession of law enforcement.”
I’ll leave the “nobility” of unionized taxpayer-funded employees with fat salaries, pensions, and benefits to the reader.
This is just preposterous.
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