Hopefully it hasn’t happened to you, but each year billions of dollars in assets believed to be connected to criminal activity, are seized by state and local law enforcement agencies around the United States. It is a common and accepted practice among law enforcement agencies, because it helps to finance their work and supplement state budgets.
The exact value of the goods seized by state and local authorities is somewhat difficult to estimate, but at least $4 billions in assets was seized last year alone.
The most common items seized are cars, houses, and cash. The reason for this is simple: authorities typically go after things they can easily dispose of. While they can generally seize any item if it is suspected of being connected to a crime, it can be somewhat difficult to make a connection between a toaster oven and a crime. On the other hand, criminals often use their homes for illegal growing operations and drug manufacturing. Cars and cash are also easy to implicate in criminal activities, and easy for police departments to get rid of or put to good use.
Once the assets are seized, they’re often auctioned off immediately, unless the owner pays to have them stored while the case goes to trial. That’s why there are so many of these property auctions taking place all the time.
To find seized property auctions, visit Governmentauctions.org, and then head to the government auctions tab on the homepage. From there, you can select the state you’re interested in and see if there are any seized property auctions coming up. A quick search revealed one coming up in New York and another in Ohio, but there are certainly others.
