In Re $18,823.06 U.S. Currency And

2018 Ohio 876, 96 N.E.3d 349
CourtOhio Court of Appeals
DecidedMarch 9, 2018
DocketNO. C–160775
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 2018 Ohio 876 (In Re $18,823.06 U.S. Currency And) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Ohio Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In Re $18,823.06 U.S. Currency And, 2018 Ohio 876, 96 N.E.3d 349 (Ohio Ct. App. 2018).

Opinions

Miller, Judge.

*351{¶ 1} Holly Galvez appeals from the judgment of the Hamilton County Court of Common Pleas, which overruled her objections to the magistrate's decision and granted the state's petition for forfeiture of currency. The trial court ordered that $18,823.06 be forfeited under R.C. Chapter 2981. For the following reasons, the trial court's judgment is affirmed in part, reversed in part, and remanded for an entry of forfeiture consistent with this opinion.

I. Facts and Procedural History

{¶ 2} On June 25, 2014, the Cincinnati Police Department, in conjunction with other police agencies, executed a warrant to search Galvez's residence as part of an ongoing investigation into a drug-trafficking ring operating in the Northern Kentucky and Greater Cincinnati area. During the search, officers seized two sets of digital scales with heroin and cocaine residue from a drawer in Galvez's bedroom dresser, a small amount of marijuana, Xanax, a Dell laptop, an HP all-in-one computer, $137 located in a box in Galvez's bedroom, $1,778 located in her purse, and some paperwork. Immediately after conducting the search, Cincinnati police officers questioned Galvez. Based on this conversation and the paperwork they recovered during their search, officers seized $16,638.06 from four bank accounts at U.S. Bank belonging to Galvez.

{¶ 3} In state court, Galvez was initially charged with possession of drug paraphernalia in violation of R.C. 2925.14, a fourth-degree misdemeanor. The state amended the charge, and Galvez pleaded guilty to the offense as a minor misdemeanor. The state next filed this action under former R.C. 2981.051 seeking to civilly forfeit the $18,823.06 in currency and bank account funds, the Dell laptop, and the HP all-in-one computer as either contraband, proceeds of, and/or an instrumentality used in the commission of a criminal offense.

{¶ 4} The civil forfeiture action was tried to a magistrate. The state presented testimony from Cincinnati Police Officers Steve Batsch and Matthew Waters. Officer Batsch testified that for several months he investigated a narcotics ring, which mainly trafficked in heroin in Cincinnati, Ohio and Northern Kentucky. Officer Batsch discovered that Michael Williams, the leader of the drug ring, was involved in a relationship with Galvez. Two vehicles registered to Galvez were parked outside Williams's residence in Kentucky, and individuals in the drug ring were operating vehicles registered in Galvez's name on a daily basis.

{¶ 5} Search warrants were executed at three locations; two in Cincinnati and one in Kentucky. Police recovered heroin from the Kentucky location and one Cincinnati location, and packaging material at the second Cincinnati location. Police arrested Williams and four other individuals. When Williams was arrested, he was driving a vehicle that had been rented in Galvez's name. Williams, Galvez, and the other individuals were also subject to a federal indictment for drug-trafficking and conspiring to traffic drugs. See United States v. Williams , S.D.Ohio No. 1:2014-CR-00118 (Dec. 13, 2004).2

*352{¶ 6} Shortly after his arrest, Williams directed someone via a monitored jailhouse phone call to remove items from Galvez's residence and tell Galvez to empty one of her bank accounts. The police then conducted a trash-pull at Galvez's residence, determined there were indicia of drugs in the home, and executed the search warrant on Galvez's home.

{¶ 7} During questioning at her home, Galvez admitted that Williams was her boyfriend, he had a key to her residence, and he would visit her one to two times a week. Officer Batsch testified that Galvez told him that Williams had paid her rent money, and $500 to $1,000 a week to rent and use the vehicles titled in her name. Galvez also said that Williams directed her to close a credit card account. Batsch reviewed Galvez's bank records for an account that showed approximately $23,000 in deposits between February 2014 and the end of June 2014, when Galvez was arrested.

{¶ 8} Batsch seized the bank accounts based on his review of the bank statements and Galvez's admissions. Batsch believed that Williams was indeed providing Galvez money in exchange for renting cars for the drug-trafficking ring and that part, if not all funds were related to the drug-trafficking ring.

{¶ 9} Batsch obtained certified copies of Galvez's Ohio tax returns for the years 2011, 2012, and 2013, wherein Galvez had reported an adjusted gross income of $11,316 in 2011, $14,384 in 2012, and $9,659 in 2013. Batsch testified that police found paperwork relating to Galvez's occupation as an exotic dancer. He testified that he believed the money Galvez earned from her dancing had been commingled with money she earned from illegal sources. Batsch also reasoned that had Galvez not been receiving money from Williams, she would have had to use her own money to pay her bills.

{¶ 10} On cross-examination, Batsch admitted that what police recovered in the trash-pull was indicative of personal drug use and that Galvez had a prescription for the Xanax they found in the home. He further testified that it was his belief that Williams sent someone to collect money or drugs from Galvez's home, but that he had no proof to support this belief, and the police found no illegal drugs or guns in Galvez's residence.

{¶ 11} When asked if he had any evidence tying the money seized to the two main defendants in the federal indictment, Batsch said that the police had Galvez's admission that Williams had given her money and had access to her room and a key to her home. When asked if he had any way of knowing if the money had been given to Galvez by Williams, he responded, "I guess specifically not."

{¶ 12} Officer Waters testified that Galvez owned three vehicles that were being driven daily by members of the drug-trafficking ring. Galvez told police that the vehicles were supposed to be titled in another woman's name, but that at the time of Galvez's arrest, the vehicles remained titled in her name. After Galvez's arrest, however, she transferred the title to two of the vehicles to two other women who were associated with men that had been indicted as coconspirators in the federal action.

{¶ 13} Galvez testified on her own behalf, admitting that she dated Williams for ten to 15 months-from the end of 2012 to *353June 2014. She said that Williams was very secretive and she was concerned he was cheating on her, but she did not know he was trafficking in drugs. She said she had given Williams money and helped him obtain employment. She acknowledged that she had rented a vehicle one or two times for Williams to use because he did not have good credit, and could not rent one for himself, but said that Williams was listed as the driver on the rental forms. Galvez admitted that she had let Williams use her vehicle, but she denied ever receiving any money from Williams or putting any money in the bank for him.

{¶ 14} Galvez owned one vehicle, a Honda Civic, when she met Williams in late 2012, and bought a second vehicle in 2013.

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In Re $18,823.06 U.S. Currency And
2018 Ohio 876 (Ohio Court of Appeals, 2018)

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Bluebook (online)
2018 Ohio 876, 96 N.E.3d 349, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-1882306-us-currency-and-ohioctapp-2018.