Forfeiture of One Hundred Seventy-One Thousand Nine Hundred Dollars ($171,900) in U.S. Currency, In re

• Decision Date: 20 May 1998
• Docket Number: SEVENTY-ONE,No. 97-2574,97-2574
• Citation: 711 So.2d 1269
• Parties: 23 Fla. L. Weekly D1250 In re FORFEITURE OF ONE HUNDREDTHOUSAND NINE HUNDRED DOLLARS ($171,900) IN UNITED STATES CURRENCY.
• Court: Florida District Court of Appeals

Page 1269

711 So.2d 1269

23 Fla. L. Weekly D1250

In re FORFEITURE OF ONE HUNDRED SEVENTY-ONE THOUSAND NINE HUNDRED DOLLARS ($171,900) IN UNITED STATES CURRENCY.

No. 97-2574.

District Court of Appeal of Florida Third District.

May 20, 1998.

Alfred Aronovitz, Miami, for appellants Ana Carmen Ledezma de Campero, Marina Castro de Ledezma, and Lecam Associados, S.R.L.

Judith E. Secher, for appellee Metro-Dade Police Department.

Before NESBITT, GREEN and FLETCHER, JJ.

NESBITT, Judge.

This civil forfeiture action arose after the Metro-Dade Police Department seized one hundred seventy-one thousand nine hundred dollars ($171,900) in U.S. currency from Marina Castro de Ledezma (Ledezma) at the Miami International Airport (MIA), pursuant to a random United States Customs (Customs) border search. Ledezma, stopped as she was about to board an international flight bound for Bolivia, was allegedly carrying the currency for Lecam Asociados (Lecam) on behalf of Ana Carmen Ledezma de Campero (Campero). Ledezma, Campero and Lecam will hereafter be collectively referred to as "Claimants" and are the appellants here. Claimants appeal the trial court's determination following an adversarial preliminary hearing that Metro-Dade Police had probable cause to pursue this forfeiture action against the Claimants, pursuant to the Florida Contraband Forfeiture Act. ¹ We affirm.

Ledezma was stopped with a carry-on bag full of U.S. currency at MIA by Customs officers just prior to her boarding a flight to Bolivia. Ledezma was questioned about the currency by Customs officers and by Metro-Dade Police Detective Pedro Fernandez, who is also a duly authorized Customs officer. ² She asserted that she was a courier for Lecam and that the currency represented proceeds from the sale of gold brought from Bolivia to Republic Metals, a metal refinery in Dade County. Ledezma produced a Customs Form 4790 declaring that she was departing the United States with the currency. Unsatisfied with Ledezma's explanation regarding the currency, Fernandez and other Customs officers asked Ledezma if she was licensed to transmit currency; Ledezma admitted that neither she nor Lecam nor Campero had a money transmitter's license, as required by section 560.122, Florida Statutes (1995)(Chapter 560 is the Money Transmitters' Code). ³

Customs seized the currency and turned it over to Metro-Dade Police for forfeiture proceedings pursuant to state law. Metro-Dade Police filed a Complaint/Petition for Judgment of Forfeiture against the Claimants, alleging that the currency constituted contraband under the Florida Contraband Forfeiture Act, in that the currency represented narcotics proceeds or the proceeds of some other criminal activity--i.e., money laundering. The Complaint/Petition also asserted that Ledezma was carrying currency without a license, a felony violation of section 560.125, Florida Statutes (1995).

The Claimants' primary assertions in this appeal are (1) that there was no probable cause to stop Ledezma nor to seize the currency; and (2) that there was no probable cause to support forfeiture of the currency. We disagree on both points, and will address them separately.

Probable Cause to Stop Ledezma at MIA and to Seize Currency.

We find that the stop of Ledezma at MIA was a valid, authorized Customs border search and that the seizure of the currency was a valid seizure pursuant to that search. Border searches are exceptions to the Fourth Amendment's protection against warrantless searches; no warrant is required to conduct a border search. See United States v. Ramsey, 431 U.S. 606, 616, 97 S.Ct. 1972, 52 L.Ed.2d 617 (1977). ⁴ It is permissible to conduct a border search without probable cause and even without reasonable suspicion or any individualized suspicion, so long as the search is a routine search ⁵ and is conducted in a "reasonable" manner. See United States v. Oriakhi, 57 F.3d 1290, 1295-96 (4th Cir.1995); United States v. Berisha, 925 F.2d 791, 793 (5th Cir.1991) (routine border searches do not require reasonable suspicion); United States v. Braks, 842 F.2d 509, 514-15 (1st Cir.1988) (not even "mere suspicion" is required). An international airport is considered the functional equivalent of an international border. See Almeida-Sanchez v. United States, 413 U.S. 266, 272-73, 93 S.Ct. 2535, 37 L.Ed.2d 596 (1973); United States v. Klein, 592 F.2d 909, 911 n. 1 (5th Cir.1979) ("it is indisputable that the customs area at the Miami International Airport is ... the functional equivalent of the border"); United States v. Himmelwright, 551 F.2d 991, 993 (5th Cir.1977)(no articulable suspicion needed for customs search at Miami International Airport). Searches of departing (as well as arriving) passengers and packages at an international airport are permissible border searches. See United States v. Ezeiruaku, 936 F.2d 136, 140-41 (3d Cir.1991) (routine outbound border search falls within border search exception; no reasonable suspicion needed to justify it); Berisha, 925 F.2d at 795 (same); United States v. Benevento, 836 F.2d 60, 68 (2d Cir.1987).

One of the primary responsibilities of the United States Customs Service is to conduct border searches for the purpose of enforcing various U.S. laws, including narcotics interdiction laws, currency reporting requirements and laws prohibiting the illegal export of U.S. currency. Federal law authorizes warrantless border searches by Customs officers:

[A] Customs officer may stop and search, at the border without a search warrant, any vehicle, vessel, aircraft, or other conveyance, any envelope or other container, and any person entering or departing from the United States.

31 U.S.C. § 5317(b). As Detective Fernandez was a duly authorized Customs officer, Fernandez was authorized by 31 U.S.C. § 5317(b) to conduct the border stop and search of Ledezma in the instant case. Ledezma was certainly "at the border"--at MIA--waiting to board a plane outbound from the United States to Bolivia. Probable cause was not needed to conduct the stop; in fact, no reason at all was needed. In 1986, Congress removed the "reasonable cause" requirement from 31 U.S.C. § 5317, thereby intending to authorize border searches without probable cause, to the full extent permitted by the Constitution. See Oriakhi, 57 F.3d at 1295 n. 1; Benevento, 836 F.2d at 68 n. 1. Thus, Fernandez was within his authority as a Customs officer to stop Ledezma and to question her concerning the currency.

Chapter 560 of the Florida Statutes sets forth Florida's Money Transmitters' Code. One of the purposes of this code, among others, is "[t]he deterrence of the use of money transmitters as a vehicle for money laundering." § 560.102(2)(d), Fla. Stat. (1995). To further this goal, the code requires any money transmitter operating in the state to register with the Florida Department of Banking and Finance. See § 560.122, Fla. Stat. (1995). Operating as a money transmitter without registration is a third-degree felony and also exposes the offender to an administrative fine. See § 560.125, Fla. Stat. (1995). Here, Ledezma admitted that she did not possess the required license. This was reason enough for the Customs officers to continue their questioning regarding the currency in Ledezma's possession ⁶ and, ultimately, to seize the currency.

Probable Cause for Forfeiture Action.

The forfeiture complaint alleged that the currency was contraband--that it represented narcotics proceeds or proceeds from other money laundering activity. Section 932.703(1)(a) of Florida's Contraband Forfeiture Act authorizes the seizure of any "contraband article." "Contraband article" is defined as:

[a]ny ... currency ... that was used, was attempted to be used, or was intended to be used in violation of chapter 893 [Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act], if the totality of the facts presented by the state is clearly sufficient to ... [establishes] probable cause to believe that a nexus exists between the article seized and narcotics activity, whether or not the use of the contraband article can be traced to a specific narcotics transaction.

§ 932.701(2)(a)1, Fla. Stat. (1995) (emphasis added). Another definition of "contraband article" is:

[a]ny personal property, including ... currency, which was used or was attempted to be used as an instrumentality in the commission of, or in aiding or abetting in the commission of, any felony, ... or which is acquired by proceeds obtained as a result of a violation of [this act].

§ 932.701(2)(a)5, Fla. Stat. (1995) (emphasis added). Thus, for a valid seizure of the currency under state law, there must exist probable cause to believe that the property was used in violation of the Florida Contraband Forfeiture Act--that is, used in a narcotics operation or other money laundering scheme.

In forfeiture proceedings, the initial burden is on the state to show probable cause for the forfeiture at an adversarial preliminary hearing. See § 932.703(2)(a), Fla. Stat. (1995). ⁷ The determination of probable cause involves "the question of whether the information relied upon by the state is adequate and sufficiently reliable to warrant the belief by a reasonable person that a violation has occurred." Medious v. Department of Highway Safety & Motor Vehicles, 534 So.2d 729, 732 (Fla. 5th DCA 1988); see also Lobo v. Metro-Dade Police Dept., 505 So.2d 621, 623 (Fla. 3d DCA 1987); United States v. One 56-Foot Motor Yacht Named Tahuna, 702 F.2d 1276, 1282 (9th Cir.1983). This belief must be more than mere suspicion, but can be created by less than prima facie proof. See Lobo, 505 So.2d at 623; United States v. $4,255,000 in U.S. Currency, 762 F.2d 895, 902 (11th Cir.1985); United States v. $364,960 in U.S. Currency, 661 F.2d 319, 323 (5th Cir.1981). Probable cause for forfeiture may be established by circumstantial evidence, see Vessel Described as One 36-Foot Mirage v. State Department of Natural Resources, 487 So.2d 1134, 1136 (Fla. 3d DCA 198...