U.S. Government Wants Meth Dealer's Comic Collection

Andy Chalk

One Flag, One Fleet, One Cat
Nov 12, 2002
45,698
1
0
U.S. Government Wants Meth Dealer's Comic Collection


An accused meth dealer with a comic problem may have to forfeit his very large and very valuable collection to the U.S. government.

30-year-old Aaron Castro has a bad habit. It's not methamphetamine; that's just business. No, Aaron's ***** is something far more insidious, and also a far better bet as a long-term investment: comic books. He owns a collection of nearly 19,000 books, valued at more than $500,000, and all if it is probably going to end up in the hands of the U.S. government.

Federal prosecutors have filed a complaint seeking ownership of Castro's massive collection, which they say was purchased with funds acquired through drug sales. But he didn't just pop down to the store to pick up the occasional issue of Superman. According to one dealer named in the government filing, Castro had a serious monkey on his back.

"Gwinn [Castro's underling] said that Aaron began to struggle with money because he would spend his drug money on comic books," the complaint reads [http://i.cdn.turner.com/dr/teg/tsg/release/sites/default/files/assets/moneyoncomics.jpg]."Gwinn would meet Aaron at comic book stores to give him the drug money and had seen Aaron buy a box of comic books."

A second dealer, who said he helped Castro organize his books, confirmed that they were bought with "drug proceeds." Castro goes on trial for narcotics distribution and weapons charges in May.

So let this be a lesson to you, kids. Wash your hands and dry them thoroughly before handling your comics. Keep them flat, and store them in Mylar bags with acid-free boards. And don't deal meth.

Source: The Smoking Gun [http://www.thesmokinggun.com/buster/methamphetamine/accused-meth-dealer-faces-loss-his-beloved-18753-comic-books]


Permalink
 

Darkauthor81

New member
Feb 10, 2007
571
0
0
I'd hate to see a man lose something he's spent so much time and money on even if it was paid for with drug money. But then, he's a drug peddler so he's probably not worth wasting sympathy on.
 

acsoundwave

New member
Jul 18, 2010
40
0
0
What's going to happen to those comics? Will Uncle Sam auction them off?

(...just sayin'. :))
 

gigastar

Insert one-liner here.
Sep 13, 2010
4,419
0
0
Well it is completely legal to sieze property, collectable or otherwise, if its accquired through illegal funding.

I see no problem with this. Its not as if those comics are going to be destroyed.
 

Frank_Sinatra_

Digs Giant Robots
Dec 30, 2008
2,306
0
0
acsoundwave said:
What's going to happen to those comics? Will Uncle Sam auction them off?

(...just sayin'. :))
If not that, then they'd be added to the National Library.
Although personally I'd like them to auction them off. Expensive comics for less than they should be? I'm so in.
 

Jabberwock xeno

New member
Oct 30, 2009
2,461
0
0
icame said:
Holy crap his bookshelf must cover 2 walls...
Mine does :p

So many books in my house...

Not all of them are comics though, 80% of mine are actual books, 28% are manga, 2% are comics.
 

JDKJ

New member
Oct 23, 2010
2,065
0
0
acsoundwave said:
What's going to happen to those comics? Will Uncle Sam auction them off?

(...just sayin'. :))
Probably. That's what they do with most forfeiture assets.
 

OldAccount

New member
Sep 10, 2010
527
0
0
acsoundwave said:
What's going to happen to those comics? Will Uncle Sam auction them off?

(...just sayin'. :))
I read somewhere that Obama's a comic fan. I bet he just wants to put them on a shelf in the Oval Office.
 

Onyx Oblivion

Borderlands Addict. Again.
Sep 9, 2008
17,032
0
0
acsoundwave said:
What's going to happen to those comics? Will Uncle Sam auction them off?

(...just sayin'. :))
That's what usually happens.

I wonder who'll be there at the auction. Maybe a rich celebrity collector will show up. And how much they'll go for.
 

Uber Waddles

New member
May 13, 2010
544
0
0
While I dont sympathize for drug dealers, cmon...

They cant possibly have proof they were purchased with Drug money. Whats listed here could be written off as hearsay. Unless that had something with a little more substance, like they caught him giving money that police gave him for meth to a comic book dealer, they cant prove it.

And honestly, wouldnt suprise me if they wanted them to auction them off to help round out the budget. God forbid a senator donates some of their grossly over-payed paychecks...
 

Motiv_

New member
Jun 2, 2009
851
0
0
Uber Waddles said:
They cant possibly have proof they were purchased with Drug money.
Andy Chalk said:
A second dealer, who said he helped Castro organize his books, confirmed that they were bought with "drug proceeds." Castro goes on trial for narcotics distribution and weapons charges in May.
Besides, I doubt that he could've afforded 19,000 comic books with other means.
 

Baneat

New member
Jul 18, 2008
2,762
0
0
Uber Waddles said:
While I dont sympathize for drug dealers, cmon...

They cant possibly have proof they were purchased with Drug money. Whats listed here could be written off as hearsay. Unless that had something with a little more substance, like they caught him giving money that police gave him for meth to a comic book dealer, they cant prove it.

And honestly, wouldnt suprise me if they wanted them to auction them off to help round out the budget. God forbid a senator donates some of their grossly over-payed paychecks...
If he has 500k in comics one can assume he probably paid around 500k, presumable this guy only sold drugs, he had no other job. Pretty sure a meth dealer didn't inherit half a million, his only source was the drug money so everything he had could probably be considered drug-money bought
 

JDKJ

New member
Oct 23, 2010
2,065
0
0
Onyx Oblivion said:
acsoundwave said:
What's going to happen to those comics? Will Uncle Sam auction them off?

(...just sayin'. :))
That's what usually happens.

I wonder who'll be there at the auction. Maybe a rich celebrity collector will show up. And how much they'll go for.
A serious collector may not waste their time. Not only is the market for comic books not what it was 10 years ago, but we're talking about a lot of approximately 20,000 books valued at $500,000, which means that the average value per book is $25. I doubt that you'll find an Action Comics No. 1 among that lot. You could, but I doubt it. And I also doubt the government will break the lot apart. Which means that you'll have to bid on the whole shebang. Which means that you'll have to either (a) go through all 20,000 books to actually see just what's in the lot or (b) bid on the lot without any thorough prior inspection and, if yours is the winning bid, hope to God that it's got an Action Comics No. 1 in there.
 

JDKJ

New member
Oct 23, 2010
2,065
0
0
Uber Waddles said:
While I dont sympathize for drug dealers, cmon...

They cant possibly have proof they were purchased with Drug money. Whats listed here could be written off as hearsay. Unless that had something with a little more substance, like they caught him giving money that police gave him for meth to a comic book dealer, they cant prove it.

And honestly, wouldnt suprise me if they wanted them to auction them off to help round out the budget. God forbid a senator donates some of their grossly over-payed paychecks...
Not true. There's an exception to the hearsay rule called "an admission against interests." If I'm dumb enough to tell someone that I bought my Murciélago with the proceeds of illegal activities, then that statement is exempted from the hearsay rule and is admissible (the rationale being that people don't usually say stuff that works against their own interests if it ain't true).
 

Nurb

Cynical bastard
Dec 9, 2008
3,078
0
0
Meth is shit... soft drugs? Fine, that's defensable, but c'mon, if he wasn't fuckin with meth, it'd be easier to feel sorry for him.

The government/police always does stuff like this.