United States v. $15,100.00 in United States Currency

• Court: District Court, D. Arizona
• Decided: October 3, 2025
• Docket: 4:25-cv-00330
• Status: Unknown

Opinion

1 WO 2 3 4 5 6 IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 7 FOR THE DISTRICT OF ARIZONA

9 United States of America, No. CV-25-00330-TUC-JCH

10 Plaintiff, ORDER

11 v.

12 $15,100.00 in United States Currency,

13 Defendant. 14 15 Before the Court is the United States’ Motion for Default Judgment for Forfeiture 16 as to $15,100 in United States currency, brought under Rule 55(b) of the Federal Rules of 17 Civil Procedure. Doc. 13. 18 On June 20, 2025, the United States filed a Complaint for Forfeiture In Rem 19 (Doc. 1). The Government alleged that the Defendant, $15,100 in United States Currency, 20 was the proceeds of controlled substance trafficking or is traceable to controlled substance 21 trafficking in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 841 and 21 U.S.C. § 846. Doc. 1 ¶ 1, 5. The 22 allegations are supported by an affidavit of United States Postal Inspection Service Postal 23 Inspector James McFeely (Doc. 1-2). On January 13, 2025, Inspector McFeely was 24 involved with the seizure of two Priority Mail Express packages: one containing $12,500 25 in United States currency, and the other containing $2,600 in United States currency. Id. 26 at 2. The seizure followed an investigation into the parcels that cumulated in a U.S. Border 27 Patrol canine altering to the presence of narcotics or a controlled substance on the currency. 28 See Doc. 1-2 at 5–6. 1 On June 23, 2025, the Government gave notice of this forfeiture complaint to 2 putative claimants Patricia McCammon and Christopher Reese. See Docs. 5, 6. Pursuant 3 to Rule G(4)(b) of the Supplemental Rules for Admiralty or Maritime Claims and Asset 4 Forfeiture, the Government mailed the putative claimants copies of the Complaint, Warrant 5 of Arrest In Rem, and Notice of Forfeiture Action. Pursuant to Rule G(4)(a)(iv)(C), the 6 Government published notice of this forfeiture action on an official Government forfeiture 7 website from June 25, 2025, to July 24, 2025. See Doc. 8. No claim, answer, or other 8 defense has been filed by Patricia McCammon or Christopher Reese as to the Defendant 9 Currency as required by Rule G(5). Accordingly, at the Government’s request, the Clerk 10 of Court entered default on September 10, 2025. See Docs. 11, 12. 11 After the Clerk has entered default under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 55(a), the 12 Court has discretion to grant default judgment pursuant to Rule 55(b). See Aldabe v. 13 Aldabe, 616 F.2d 1089, 1092 (9th Cir. 1980). “The general rule of law is that upon default 14 the factual allegations of the complaint, except those relating to the amount of damages, 15 will be taken as true.” TeleVideo Sys., Inc. v. Heidenthal, 826 F.2d 915, 917 (9th Cir. 1987) 16 (quoting Geddes v. United Financial Group, 559 F.2d 557, 560 (9th Cir. 1977)). Taking 17 the allegations in the Complaint as true, the Defendant $15,100 in United States Currency 18 is the proceeds derived from controlled substance trafficking or is traceable to controlled 19 substance trafficking in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 841 and 21 U.S.C. § 846. It is therefore 20 subject to forfeiture pursuant to 21 U.S.C. § 881(a)(6). 21 Accordingly, 22 IT IS HEREBY ORDERED, ADJUDGED AND DECREED that a default 23 judgment be entered for the United States of America against the Defendant $15,100 in 24 United States Currency. 25 IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that all right, title and interest in the Defendant 26 $15,100 in United States Currency is hereby condemned, forfeited to and vested in the 27 United States of America. 28 IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that the Defendant $15,100 in United States || Currency forfeited to the United States of America herein shall be disposed of according 2|| to law. 3 Dated this 2nd day of October, 2025. 4 5 . | 7 / / John C. Hinderaker _/United States District Judge 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28

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