Feds try to seize suspects’ teeth

Published on April 7th, 2006

Government lawyers tried to remove and confiscate the gold dental work known as “grills” or “grillz” from the mouths of two men facing drug charges.

“I’ve been doing this for over 30 years and I have never heard of anything like this,” said Richard J. Troberman, a forfeiture specialist and past president of the Washington Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers.

“It sounds like Nazi Germany when they were removing the gold teeth from the bodies, but at least then they waited until they were dead,” he added.

Government lawyers who asked a federal judge on March 29 to order confiscation of the grills said they did not know the caps had been bonded to the defendants’ teeth.

“Asset forfeiture is a fairly routine procedure, and our attorneys were under the impression that these snapped out like a retainer,” said Emily Langlie, a spokeswoman for the U.S. attorney’s office in Seattle.

The government is ready to take the what from my which?

13 users responded in " Feds try to seize suspects’ teeth "

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# 1 Rick said, on April 7th, 2006 at 12:07 pm

They take all sorts of jewelery from you when you go to jail. I know this is attached to the prisoner’s teeth, but it is still pretty much jewelery. If they were afraid I’d cause some mayhem with my plain gold wedding band, then why wouldn’t you expect something like this would cause disruptions in prison? Maybe they will need a dentist to remove them, but I think it is pretty in-bounds.

# 2 Alex said, on April 7th, 2006 at 12:34 pm

How do you think a drug dealer managed to afford such ridiculous jewlery in the first place? From girl scout cookie sales? The Feds have seized expensive speed boats and airplanes when they have found a trifling amount of drugs aboard, why not tooth jewelry?

# 3 Rick said, on April 7th, 2006 at 1:18 pm

Uh, oh. I’d just want to be careful slipping too casually from ’suspect’ to assuming that what they own is clearly and obviously not rightfully theirs because they must have done something illegal to get it.

The “legitimately” wealthy have at least as many silly adornments.

# 4 RTaylor said, on April 7th, 2006 at 2:37 pm

You’re talking about some mean useless low life here. I couldn’t even find an estimate on what the criminal justice system in this country costs a year. Those are tax payers dollars. They can sell the SOB’s off piece by piece for all I care. Maybe we should start harvesting organs from some of these predators for the innocent. Individual rights in this country has gotten way out of proportion with the rights of the society. I know our crazy drug laws breeds a lot of this, but that’s just not going to change any time soon.

# 5 synclair said, on April 7th, 2006 at 3:57 pm

I think this is ridiculous. Sure the drug dealers probably financed their “bling bling grillz” with illegal loot, but hauling them off to the dentist to pull their teeth to recover money is a step gone too far, IMO. I think the federal drug forfeiture laws have gone too far. There are many cases of people who’ve lost their homes and cars because a member of the family or a friend/associate was staying there and covertly growing pot or selling drugs without the owner’s knowledge. Now if that sort of illegal activity was done with the knowledge and consent of the owners of the property, that is a different issue. But I think there are a lot of cases where someone who owns property ends up having to spend thousands of dollars in a losing legal battle trying to hold on to what little they own.

What is really pulling my chain these days are prosecuters using Anti-Terror laws to prosecute people who are clearly not affiliated with terrorist movements. We’re losing our individual rights and freedoms people.

# 6 AM said, on April 7th, 2006 at 4:39 pm

When I first saw these I assumed they were snap-ins – I mean, no real lady would wears flashy jewelry in the daytime, right? – but these things are like the braces I couldn’t wait to get off my teeth 25 years ago? Yaaaaggghhhh …. Now I’m gonna have a “my teeth are falling out” dream, I just know it. (Yes, it is a fish dream.)

I wonder if whoever installs these offers a periodic cleaning plan too.

# 7 Alex said, on April 7th, 2006 at 4:40 pm

They are not tlaking about pulling their teeth off. The Grillz go in front of your actual teeth they don’t replace them. These are jewels, not chewing implements. Since they don’t need them to eat and they are jewelry, they can be legally confiscated. How long do you think these jewels would last in Jail anyway? They might even kill the idiotic suspect for them.

If they find drugs on a boat or pane, they confiscate it before trial and getting it back is difficult at best. I don’t see why mouth jewelry should be trreated any differently than any other bling that may be on a suspect’s possesion.

# 8 Alex said, on April 7th, 2006 at 4:47 pm

While the forfeiture laws have gone too far, if someone can have their home forfeited because anyone within the home has committed a drug crime, I don’t see why the grillz cannot be confiscated in the same manner. If the laws allow for the confiscation of homes and other property, these grillz are fair game.

If the Grillz are bonded to the teeth, the diamonds can then be extracted in some other way that doesn’t involve removing teeth.

# 9 Mr. Fusion said, on April 7th, 2006 at 6:37 pm

And if it turns out that these two guys are innocent…

# 10 Raff said, on April 7th, 2006 at 7:30 pm

What if they have just regular gold caps? Should those be pulled? After all it is gold.

# 11 Wayne said, on April 7th, 2006 at 9:44 pm

I can’t believe that anyone would even buy those ridiculous things… grillz. Just looking at those things in people’s mouths makes me nauseous. I mean, really, I can think of a few dozen other ways for these idiots to show off their stupidity and ill-gotten financial prowess without the assistance of gold and diamond orthodontic fixtures. Aren’t those outlandish necklaces enough? And if you’re a suspected drug dealer, isn’t this type of nonsensical jewelry attract unwanted attention to yourself?

# 12 Richard said, on April 7th, 2006 at 9:48 pm

Next they’ll be harvasting other body parts. What does a kidney go for on the open market nowadays? 60K? How about part of your liver? Corneas?

# 13 Mister Mustard said, on April 8th, 2006 at 10:03 am

>>They can sell the SOB’s off piece by piece for all I care.

Ummmmm, perhaps we could wait until they are CONVICTED before removing things that are permanently attached to their bodies?

If they’re just snapped or glued on, I have no trouble with removing the stuff AFTER THEY ARE FOUND GUILTY IN A COURT OF LAW, but if they’re only “facing drug charges”? Jeez. What next? Give ‘em the needle or the gas chamber right after booking?

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