Bad beat? Crown sues poker player for $10K seized in traffic stop
31 Comments
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David Raymond Amos
If it were me being suing for
such nonsense I would file a counterclaim and seek ten times the amount
for harassment etc. Perhaps this dudes lawyer should put me on the
witness list and I will take days explaining the RCMP harassment of me
to the Crown.
Steve Wilson
His defence is to say the
money is his poker bankroll? Unfortunately, the Crown doesn't care what
you are going to use the money for, it wants to know where the money
came from. That's the basis of the forfeiture. Unless this guy can
prove the money came from poker winnings, it should be taken as the
proceeds of illegal activity. But only if the charge can be laid and
proven.
David Raymond Amos
@Steve Wilson Hence the Crown has no right to keep it
Michael Geraldson
Having money isn't illegal, but having pot is. Why didn't he throw the pot out the window instead?
David Raymond Amos
@Michael Geraldson Good point
but methinks from reading this article that its kinda obvious that the
gambler likely figured when the cops pulled him over they would smell
the dope, search his truck and seize the money etc. So he likely took a
chance and pitched the cash out the window in effort to keep the cops
from seizing it. Either way it seems that he lost that particular gamble
Tracy Glendenning
It brings new meaning to the
old term "highwayman". Legalized highway robbery (literally). The
government is going to get your money - even if they have to steal it.
David Raymond Amos
@Tracy Glendenning In my
humble opinion to waste our taxpayer dimes and the courts oh so precious
time on such a minor matter is beyond ridiculous. Why didn't the cops
just tell a simple truth and say they found the money on the side of the
road then say no more? Then the ball would be in the gambler's
park.Although he has every right to sue the Crown in order to get it
back because of Mary Jane's court order (Small pun). I have no doubt
his lawyer's fees would be higher than the amount he hoped to regain. So
if the gambler were wise he would consider it a bad a deal, fold his
cards and count himself lucky for not having to pay a lawyer to defend
him after being charged with a criminal act. My logic tells me tha if
the gambler did noting then the Crown could retain its ill-gotten gain
by default.
Furthermore Trudeau "The Younger" and his cohorts plan to make what the Crown accuses this dude of legal very soon anyway N'esy Pas?
Furthermore Trudeau "The Younger" and his cohorts plan to make what the Crown accuses this dude of legal very soon anyway N'esy Pas?
David Raymond Amos
@David Raymond Amos Speaking
of Highway Robbery In 2007 when I notified the RCMP that the Fat Fred
City Finest had illegally seized my Harley with a New Hampshire
registration they just laughed at me. Then when I found out that my
Yankee brother in law who was a Deputy Sheriff conned the RCMP and some
very corrupt Yankee cops to try to prove that I had stolen my bike I
got really pissed off (I bought it in 1984 from a friend of mine who was
the original owner). When that malicious nonsense failed BIGTIME the
sneaky SNB people who are screwing people on the property taxes lately
lost all records of my property being seized by the government. Trust
that an original 1965 Harley Davidson first Electraglide and last
panhead with original paint etc is worth a lot more that 10 grand.
Methinks I should consider intervening in this lawsuit. What say you?
Jay Boucher-Langlais
@David Raymond Amos, so the cops saying they found the money on the side of the road is the simple truth! How do you know that ?
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David Raymond Amos
@Jay Boucher-Langlais DUHHH??? I read the article
David Raymond Amos
@Tracy Glendenning Interesting that CBC blocked my responses to Langlais eh?
Jay Boucher-Langlais
Je vois qu'il y a de nombreux avocats en herbe ici.
Shawn McShane
@Jay Boucher-Langlais Better than the lawyers from Université de Moncton that have become our budding government.
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David Raymond Amos
@Jay Boucher-Langlais Methinks you should tell that nonsense to your friends and fans in Radio Canada N'esy Pas?
Jay Boucher-Langlais
@Shawn McShane; not even close! Given that U de M lawyers are known to win most of their cases.
David Raymond Amos
@Shawn McShane FYI CBC blocked my responses to this dude
Bad beat? Crown sues poker player for $10K seized in traffic stop
Police detected smell of marijuana in Hanwell man's truck and province wants cash forfeited as drug money
By Alan White, CBC News Posted: Apr 05, 2017 6:00 AM AT
Ha Van Nguyen of Hanwell finished 13th in the World Poker
Tour's 2016 Canadian spring championship. (World Poker Tour)
The province is suing a poker player from Hanwell to make him forfeit more than $10,000 that was recovered by police after he turned away from an RCMP check stop in November 2015.
Ha Van Nguyen, 44, told police the money was his bankroll for poker. However, the RCMP officer who pulled Nguyen over around 2 a.m. on Nov. 20, 2015 said there was a strong smell of marijuana coming from Nguyen's Nissan Titan truck.
In its statement of claim under New Brunswick's Civil Forfeiture Act, the province contends the cash is the proceeds of illegal drug activity or was to be used for something illegal and asks to have it forfeited to the Crown. Two cellphones and approximately $185 in loose cash were also seized.
Nguyen had an outstanding charge of marijuana possession from Oct. 1, 2015, and was convicted of producing marijuana in 2006 and was sentenced to six months in jail.
No charges pursued
Criminal charges stemming from Nguyen's arrest on Nov. 20, 2015, were not pursued.
Ha Van Nguyen's 13th-place finish in the
WPT's Canadian spring championship in 2016 earned him more than $12,000.
(World Poker Tour)
In his statement of defence, Nguyen denies that the cash seized from him was from, or to be used for, unlawful activity.
Nguyen also argues in his statement of defence that provincial court Judge Mary Jane Richards made an order in February 2017 that all the property seized from Nguyen be returned to Nguyen's lawyer in trust and that has not taken place.
"The order of Judge Richards is … a final order in the proceeding and the proper avenue for contesting the order is through the appeal process," states Nguyen in his statement of defence.
'Poker bank roll'
Nguyen told the RCMP the night of the seizure that he played poker at St. Mary's Entertainment Centre at St. Mary's First Nation and the money was his "poker bank roll."
The information contained in the statements of claim and defence has not been proven in court.
An incident report by Const. Jesse Abernathy notes that Nguyen was "very co-operative and not upset about his money being seized though he did ask if he would likely have it back by the end of the weekend as he was going to go play poker next week."
Ha Van Nguyen, holding cards, was crowned the
2016 Atlantic Canada poker champion in 2016, claiming the $30,000 first
prize. (Canada Poker)
However, Nguyen has fared well in some high-stakes poker events since the traffic stop in November 2015.
He won the Atlantic Canada poker championship and its $30,000 first prize at Red Shores Casino in Charlottetown in October 2016. In April 2016, he won more than $12,000 with a 13th-place finish as the World Poker Tour's Canadian spring championship at Kahnawake First Nation in Quebec.
2 a.m. check stop
The RCMP check stop was on Route 640 in Hanwell at about 2 a.m. and when Nguyen approached it from the north, he turned his vehicle around. RCMP then followed his vehicle and the officer noticed a bag being thrown out of the passenger side window of the truck.
'The reason why I was scared was because I had [marijuana] it wasn't because I had money.' - Ha Van Nguyen as quoted by RCMP
When the bag was retrieved it was found to contain $10,700 in six bundles of cash in a vacuum-sealed bag. Five of the bundles were held together with elastics while one bundle was not held by elastics. The amount of money per bundle ranged from $200 to $2,000, with the bill denominations being $10, $20 or $50, with most of the bundles consisting of $20 bills.
Nguyen told the RCMP officer he threw out the money because he was "a little bit scared" because he had a small amount of marijuana with him.
"The reason why I was scared was because I had [marijuana], it wasn't because I had money," Nguyen is quoted as saying in a supplementary RCMP report by Const. Shawn Elhatton. "The money was for my poker bank roll."
Drug residue on money
The seized money was tested by RCMP Const. Stéphanie Courteau for the presence of residue from controlled substances and explosives. Courteau states in a court document she obtained positive results for the presence of explosives and/or cocaine and/or heroin on all the bundles of money and the loose money seized from Nguyen.
LeBlanc, who investigates proceeds of crime and money-laundering offences for the RCMP out of the Moncton detachment, states in an affidavit that he believes the cash seized from Nguyen to be the profits from the sale of a controlled substance. He points to the bundling of bills in the fashion used with Nguyen's money to be typical of the handling of money in the illegal drug trade.
Nguyen's case is the second one dealing with a cash seizure under the Civil Forfeiture Act to come before the courts recently. In late January, Court of Queen's Bench Justice Jean-Paul Ouellette ruled the New Brunswick government was allowed to keep more than $55,000 seized from an Ottawa man during a traffic stop in New Brunswick in 2015, even though no criminal charges against the man even proceeded to trial.
A trial date for the Nguyen case has not been set.
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