Customs took his truck without charging him with a crime. Two years later, he's getting it back.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

No matter what your political outlook is, you should be wary of civil asset forfeiture.

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Customs took his truck without charging him with a crime. Two years later, he’s finally getting it back.

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Customs took his truck without charging him with a crime. Two years later, he’s finally getting it back.

By Christopher Ingraham October 20 at 7:00 AM

Customs and Border Protection is returning a Kentucky man's truck, more than two years after it was seized because Border Patrol officers found five bullets in the truck's center console.

In September 2015, Customs officers seized the pickup truck belonging to Gerardo Serrano after they found the bullets when he attempted to cross the border into Mexico. The agency maintained that the bullets were “munitions of war” and that transporting them to Mexico was illegal.

Serrano says he simply forgot that he left the small ammunition magazine in his truck's center console. Serrano, who holds a concealed carry permit, did not have a gun or any other weapons with him at the time.

Customs never officially charged Serrano with a crime. They never gave him a day in court to fight the allegations against him. But they held on to his truck anyway, under the controversial practice of civil asset forfeiture, which allows authorities to seize and in many cases keep cash and property from individuals never convicted of any crime.
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Christopher Ingraham writes about politics, drug policy and all things data. He previously worked at the Brookings Institution and the Pew Research Center. Follow @_cingraham