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Local police net cash seized in drug busts

By KIM SMITH DEDAM
Staff Writer
Published: August 11, 2009

SARANAC LAKE — The Saranac Lake Police Department just received $10,000 in drug-forfeiture funds.

Franklin County District Attorney Derek Champagne delivered a check Monday to Saranac Lake Police Chief Bruce Nason.

Forfeiture money is cash found in connection with a drug bust or other illicit business operations.

Federal marshals secure cash found on scene as evidence in such cases until a judge releases it. Then the money is dispensed proportionately to assisting law-enforcement agencies.

Forfeiture cash can take from four months to two years to be released, Champagne said, depending on litigation.

But it keeps coming in.

Franklin County has had several high-profile busts in recent months, including the breakup of an alleged $1 billion marijuana operation tied to Russian organized crime that reportedly stretched into Canada and ran like a river to cities downstate.

Another drug raid in St. Regis Falls this year netted $1.4 million in cash.

"Of that, $300,000 to $400,000 will be coming back to Franklin County," Champagne said.

Saranac Lake Police were involved in that investigation, as well.

Raid forfeiture cash has allowed the DA to hire a full-time drug-trafficking investigator to coordinate police efforts. "We've begun dismantling large networks," Champagne said, from source to large suppliers.

Confiscated money is used in ongoing investigations, which prove costly.

A phone bill "listening to" eight or 10 phone lines can cost as much as $25,000 a month, Champagne said.

The District Attorney's Office also sends undercover investigators out with cash to buy large amounts of drugs. Last winter, for instance, Franklin County sent an agent to Salt Lake City with $50,000 to break up a cocaine ring tied to the North Country.

"Fortunately, we've been able to do it with the drug dealers' money," Champagne said.

Saranac Lake has received funds from the Franklin County/Border Narcotics Task Force several times in recent years.

Federal laws do not allow the money to be spent on budgetary items.

Nason said the monies are most often used to pay for overtime police costs or to buy new electronics, "things that would be a burden to the taxpayers."

The $10,000 delivered this week will buy new video cameras for each of the three Saranac Lake Police Department cruisers.

The total cost of the equipment is about $9,500, Nason said.

The district attorney praised Saranac Lake Police and other agencies — including the newly opened U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration in Plattsburgh — that put manpower behind these efforts.

Almost 60 percent of people arrested in the county on felony charges are convicted, he said.



E-mail Kim Smith Dedam at: kdedam@pressrepublican.com

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