The Police seized my Bounce mushroom

[120reefkeeper]

Amazing story! I can't say I've seen anything like this before. Many years ago I had police show up at my home with a warrant. My power company turned me in. I was running a total of 10 tanks at my home all with halide lighting. I laughed and let them in . We all had a good chuckle and I made 2 new clients from it.

Great to hear it all worked out.

 

[pecan2phat]

Just for reference, LEO cannot seize any US mail or packages, they must go through the Postal Inspectors and from my experience, they do not always even get it then.
They are also not privileged to any forwarding address information which is often requested.

 

[4FordFamily]

Amazing story! I can't say I've seen anything like this before. Many years ago I had police show up at my home with a warrant. My power company turned me in. I was running a total of 10 tanks at my home all with halide lighting. I laughed and let them in . We all had a good chuckle and I made 2 new clients from it.

Great to hear it all worked out.

Hahah I was questioned at my townhome apartment for the same thing in college. A 180, a 75, and a 55!

 

[EuroDriver]

Wow, that was a lot to take in, but I was glued to the screen throughout the 13 pages of thread, lol! OP I'm very happy for you about the positive outcome - you are very lucky you got it back and consider it a miracle you got it back the same day!

For the sake of any of you who may fall to this sort of misfortune some day, I'll explain a couple of things. I'm not in law enforcement but I work with plenty of law enforcement officers across the spectrum (local & State police, FBI, DEA and especially State and Federal prosecutors and investigators). I get to review a lot of their reports and procedures regarding seizures, forfeitures and ensuing arrests.
No to toot my own horn but after reading the first page, I figured out the UPS driver was the culprit. They have the discretion to report any suspicious or illegal activities related to shipped packages.
If law enforcement had flagged the package, they would have been monitoring it from the moment it got dropped off for shipment. They would have allowed the package to reach the addressee and either arrest the recipient at the time they picked up the package at the facility, or would have come into the house, guns blazing after the package was accepted at the delivery address. This happens when they have evidence of illegal contraband being bought, sold and delivered via mail/shipping companies. By the time they execute a seizure, they already have a mountain of evidence and the people involved are up the creek. Mistakes do happen though.
In your case, OP I said it's a miracle you received it the same day is because after UPS "flagged" your package, normally it would have been returned to the warehouse at the end of the driver's route. Then they notify the authorities. From there, it's a bureaucratic process in which they may be in no hurry to go pick up the package or UPS has not made it available. Thus, your first couple of calls they genuinely had no idea what you were calling about. From there the "incident report" is likely to bounce from one desk to another until someone is stuck with it and starts to take action. They could have easily sent it to the evidence locker to deal with it later (a day a week or a month later). Probably your polite and courteous persistence prompted them to immediately look into it, as a favor to you. Had they opted to leave the investigation for a slow day, you wouldn't have had much recourse because law enforcement agencies have qualified immunity for harm sustained by a citizen as a result of actions taken in good faith in the course and scope of their duties. If any of you bothered to look up civil forfeiture laws, then you know they could have opted to keep it and it would take months of expensive litigation for you to get it back.
Now, how did they determine the package was safe without even opening it? Yup, police dogs are a good bet but you would not believe the arsenal of technology that police have at their disposal to detect illegal substances (x-ray machines, density scanners, chemical detectors, radiation detectors and on and on).
That said, your local LE probably deserve a nice treat and your local UPS driver a long, sustained stink-eye (just kidding, he too, probably thought he was doing the right thing- you might invite him to check out your tank so he's not so sketchy the next time).
Enjoy your shrooms!

 

[ourcoralreef]

I would contact UPS, have them show you the court order giving the police the right to seize your package. Police have to have a court order to seize the package unless they did not think they had time to get one. In that case the police have to take the package to the nearest judge to get the order. Property can not be seized without a court order, UPS had to be given something at the time of the seizer. If UPS was not given anything to justify the seizure a crime was committed. I also would not rule out UPS local office making up the story to cover their incompetence. You may want to contact the Police Chief or the FBI to file a complaint.

They don’t need any warrants or paperwork if its in their custody
When you hand over a package its in the custody of that delivery service and they can hand it over to law Enforcement if they feel the need too

They also did not “seize” it, they checked it for contraband (xrayed it because op said it wasn’t opened) law enforcement does have the right to check packages for contraband at random or if they are suspicious of a package


If you look at any delivery services fine print it says packages may be delayed from whether conditions or inspections by law enforcement

Ups did not make The story up because OP contacted the drug task force and they responded to him/her about the package

 

[Twins Dragonz]

1760 people are viewing this post. And the pages up to 13 now. My question is: who is gonna read all those comments? I know I’m not going to.

 

[Teke Left]

Nope me either .. read about 4.. then through the last 2 just scrolled to see if the poster had posted the outcome .. lol

 

[silvernblackr35]

If it's a package that is overnighted by plane then TSA and the FAA security procedures govern both UPS Air and Fedex Express.

 

[Tucker64]

Here's another pic of it starting to open up and get its bubbles back. The other shrooms still look pretty rough but they are coming back as well

 

[Twins Dragonz]

Nope me either .. read about 4.. then through the last 2 just scrolled to see if the poster had posted the outcome .. lol

I saw a comment said, the OP got the shroom back. Too lazy to find where that is.

 

[Hitman]

When it has baby’s sell them under the name “ Smooth Criminal Bounce Mushroom “ lol

Glad they are looking better.

 

[ourcoralreef]

Man don't be a buzz kill, we were rallying for a justice the American way, with talking on sites, watching tv not making our civil servants be accountable for there actions, sitting back and talking, when do we push back?

Lol
pitchfork in hand what now

 

[ourcoralreef]

Here's another pic of it starting to open up and get its bubbles back. The other shrooms still look pretty rough but they are coming back as well

Very nice i see you really like your mushrooms

 

[Dr RBG]

I would talk with a lawyer... How did they know what was in the package in the first place and how did they seize it without a real reason? what looked suspicious?

 

[2Wheelsonly]

1760 people are viewing this post. And the pages up to 13 now. My question is: who is gonna read all those comments? I know I’m not going to.

1760 people from some online drug forum reading this thinking they will start shipping all their drugs in bags of saltwater and shipping as "livestock".

 

[Ortho281]

Wow what a crazy story! Glad to see it was a good outcome!

 

[ChiCity]

1760 people from some online drug forum reading this thinking they will start shipping all their drugs in bags of saltwater and shipping as "livestock".

Or they’re really confused,
thinking Sting is snatching shrooms

 

[silvernblackr35]

I work at Fedex Express airport ramp, we have TSA bust in unannounced about 3 or 4 times a year. They basically have the right to search any package they want.

 

[BrotherSheepDog]

Sorry to hear you are having to go through this. I know reefers who have been served with a no-knock warrant in the middle of the night. The catalyst? Their reef tank lights down in the basement were mistaken for grow lights.

My dad was a police offer, but at some point we as a free society have to go back to using common sense again. IMO; it isn't justifiable to conduct a forced-entry, no-knock raid on some guy who may, or may not, be growing pot in his basement. That level of force does not fit the (possible) crime.

Not to be PITA but no knocks are usually conducted on high risk subjects that can do physical or deadly harm to an officer. Growing pot in the basement is illegal in certain states. Large Drug trafficking organizations to your small time local pot dealer are usually armed. To mainly defend their product. The era and times we live in now is very different that it was maybe 30 years ago. No one wants to go to jail and people are not afraid to shoot cops to get away. No knocks protect our LEOs and give them the element of surprise.

 

[2Wheelsonly]

If the corals were ordered from a domestic seller and were shipped within the United States customs would not have any say on it nor would they inspect it. That would not be within their nexus.

If the coral was shipped from a foreign country th

Yes I agree, he stated it was shipped domestically. I am just saying, his address could be FLAGGED from a PRIOR seizure but I wont act like an expert and claim this is the case; i'm only going based on stuff I read on the internet which we know can't really be trusted. I will also assume not a single person in this thread is an expert and no "I know a guy who saved the president from ninjas in socal" isn't going to change my mind from anyone.