Russ Caswell and his family have owned and operated the Motel Caswell in Tewksbury, Mass., for two generations. But by using civil forfeiture, the U.S. Department of Justice and the Tewksbury Police Department teamed up to try to forfeit and cash in on the Motel Caswell.
The government argued the motel was “facilitating” drug crimes. But over a 14-year period, the government pointed to a mere fifteen arrests—out of more than 200,000 rooms rented during that time by the Caswells.
In a sweeping victory for the Caswells, a federal judge dismissed the government’s case after a trial, declaring that the Caswells were innocent owners of the property who did not know of the drug crime that occurred behind closed doors and did all that they could reasonably do to maintain a crime-free motel. In a 60-page ruling, the government’s allegations were described as “gross exaggerations” and without “a scintilla of evidence.”