Family's Home Seized by Police After Son's $40 Drug Bust

Earlier this year, Yianni Sourovelis, 22, was arrested for possessing $40 worth of heroin, his first criminal offense. Several weeks later, police and representatives of the district attorney's office showed up at Sourovelis' parents' house in the Philadelphia suburbs and told them they were being evicted.

According to Markella Sourovelis, Yianni's mother, the officers who arrived began screwing doors shut, shutting off electricity, and telling the family their home would be gutted after it was seized by the state. The elder Sourovelises had committed no crimes, but were victims of Pennsylvania's civil forfeiture law, which allowed the city district attorney to take custody of the home just because it believed it was being used to sell drugs, without a trial or other proof of wrongdoing. It is worth repeating, perhaps, that this was Yianni's first offense.
CNN has the full story, which-surprise!-involves Philly law enforcement making a ton of money:
Philadelphia officials seized more than 1,000 houses, about 3,300 vehicles and $44 million in cash, totaling $64 million in civil forfeitures over a 10-year period, according to the lawsuit.

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