Florida Cops Ordered To Return Nearly $20k In Cash To Stripper
(Photo credit: Miami-Dade Police Department)
The Miami-Dade Police Department must return nearly $20,000 in cash they stole (or illegally seized) from a stripper, claiming it was drug money is being reported by WSB-TV
The department agreed to pay more than $3,000 in attorney fees to lawyers hired by Ras Cates, 33, and his wife, Lizmixell Batista, who is a stripper at Cheetah Gentlemanâs Club in Hallandale Beach.
The couple was arrested May 25, in Miami after police seized six guns including three assault-type rifles suspected marijuana oil and several bottles of codeine that did not have valid prescriptions, the Herald reported.
Police also confiscated $19,934 in bills that were found in Batistas purse. According to body-camera footage, Batista explained why she was carrying so much cash.
I was supposed to go the bank to deposit the money. We got bills to pay, sweetie, she said.
The couple was charged with armed drug dealing and other felony charges, but defense attorneys challenged the arrest and prosecutors dropped the case.
âSearch of the trunk was illegal, prosecutor Johnathan Nobile wrote in a memo.
According to the report, the Miami-Dade police departmentâs legal bureau asked a civil court judge to allow law officials to keep the money, arguing that they believed it was drug money. But at a hearing, a co-worker with Batista at the strip club testified that she earned significant cash tips at the club.
The judge ruled there was no probable cause for the seizure and ordered the money returned to the couple.
Now I thought I had heard it all, Chile, but this one takes the cake!!!
