THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Stumble Upon

del.icio.us

Digg

Facebook

Print

Email

Speak Up

DETROIT - An Ontario man is trying to recover more than $100,000 seized from his car after U.S. border agents secretly slapped a GPS device on the vehicle and tracked it from Michigan to Georgia and back.

The U.S. government says the money is tied to drugs and wants to keep it. Norman Wilding of Brantford, Ont., told authorities that he won it while gambling.

His lawyer, Jonathan Jones, filed a claim this week in federal court in Detroit.

The case highlights some key tools used by government agents: an electronic device to follow people and a law that allows them to grab property suspected of being the fruits of illegal activity.

"It's a powerful law," Detroit-area lawyer Jorin Rubin said of the government's seizure authority.

"When they seize assets, they just need to have probable cause that it was involved in illegal activity. It's a low standard," said Rubin, who filed similar cases when she worked for U.S. attorneys in Detroit and Brooklyn, N.Y.

Customs agents attached a battery-operated GPS unit to Wilding's rental car when he entered the United States through Port Huron on Jan. 16. The satellite-based system allows the user to track something anywhere in the world.

Wilding travelled to Harsens Island before going south to Ohio for the night, according to a court filing.

After two nights in Kennesaw, Ga., the car was back in Michigan, south of Detroit, when agents asked Taylor police to stop Wilding. Officers found $62,100 in a cooler and $50,000 in a duffel bag, the government says.

According to the government, Wilding said he won the money at a Mississippi casino and then said it was from a poker game.

Wilding has not been charged with a crime. Jones said his client denies any drug connection but he declined to comment further.

"It's early in the proceedings. We'll continue to talk to the government and see what direction this is going to go," Jones said Friday.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Peter Ziedas said he couldn't comment on the government's investigation.

"We don't do things unless we have probable cause to do them," he said.

Peter Henning, a Wayne State University law professor and former federal prosecutor, said someone unwittingly driving a car with a GPS device can't claim a violation of their constitutional rights.

"It's not a search," he said. "It sounds invasive, but putting a GPS on the car is not looking inside it. It's simply tracking the movement. You could have a helicopter follow him. You could have field glasses."