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Mo. Man Fights for Return of Rare $1,000 Bill That Was Seized During a Traffic Stop
The Associated Press
PINE LAWN, Mo. Jan. 15 — The mayor of this St. Louis suburb fancied a rare $1,000 bill that was seized in a traffic stop, so the town wrote the driver a check and the politician kept the cash.
Not a fair trade, according to the driver, a retired trucker who said he carried the bill in his pocket for two decades.
"If you take a personal item from someone, you should give it back," Curtis Smith Sr., 71, told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
County police and prosecutors found that Pine Lawn officials broke no laws. But Don Schneider, a spokesman for St. Louis County Prosecutor Robert McCulloch, said "it's a bad idea for a city official or politician to have access to evidence."
"It creates the appearance of impropriety. We don't advocate doing business that way," Schneider said.
Calls to City Hall on Thursday seeking comment from Mayor Adrian Wright were not answered.
Experts said collectors will pay $1,300 to $3,500 for the bill showing President Grover Cleveland, depending on its condition. The U.S. government printed its last $1,000 bill in 1934 and took the denomination out of circulation in 1969 after technology replaced paper notes for transfers of large sums.
Smith said he got his $1,000 bill through a banking friend about 20 years ago, when that sum could buy what today would cost $1,771, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data.
Smith's note was seized last April when he was arrested on suspicion of drunken driving. Smith, who lives in nearby Jennings, said he was sleeping off a few drinks in his truck on a lot he owns.
According to an official report, Smith was taken to the police station, where the mayor watched as police counted Smith's money, including the $1,000 bill, several $100 bills and a few $2 bills.
Wright said he wanted the bill, which portrays President Grover Cleveland, "as a novelty item, as few people have ever had the opportunity to see a bill in that denomination." The mayor fetched 10 $100 bills, and police switched the money and deposited it in an account for seized drug assets, the report said.
In September, county prosecutors refused to charge Smith with selling drugs and ordered the money returned. The city issued Smith a check for $3,231 to cover the $1,000 bill and his other cash.
Smith said he repeatedly called and visited police to ask for his rare bill, but officials refused to return it.
City Attorney Mark Zoole said the bill never left City Hall and would be returned to Smith, should he ask for it, once it was no longer considered evidence in a criminal case.
Zoole noted, "He, of course, would have to pay for it."
The Associated Press
PINE LAWN, Mo. Jan. 15 — The mayor of this St. Louis suburb fancied a rare $1,000 bill that was seized in a traffic stop, so the town wrote the driver a check and the politician kept the cash.
Not a fair trade, according to the driver, a retired trucker who said he carried the bill in his pocket for two decades.
"If you take a personal item from someone, you should give it back," Curtis Smith Sr., 71, told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
County police and prosecutors found that Pine Lawn officials broke no laws. But Don Schneider, a spokesman for St. Louis County Prosecutor Robert McCulloch, said "it's a bad idea for a city official or politician to have access to evidence."
"It creates the appearance of impropriety. We don't advocate doing business that way," Schneider said.
Calls to City Hall on Thursday seeking comment from Mayor Adrian Wright were not answered.
Experts said collectors will pay $1,300 to $3,500 for the bill showing President Grover Cleveland, depending on its condition. The U.S. government printed its last $1,000 bill in 1934 and took the denomination out of circulation in 1969 after technology replaced paper notes for transfers of large sums.
Smith said he got his $1,000 bill through a banking friend about 20 years ago, when that sum could buy what today would cost $1,771, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data.
Smith's note was seized last April when he was arrested on suspicion of drunken driving. Smith, who lives in nearby Jennings, said he was sleeping off a few drinks in his truck on a lot he owns.
According to an official report, Smith was taken to the police station, where the mayor watched as police counted Smith's money, including the $1,000 bill, several $100 bills and a few $2 bills.
Wright said he wanted the bill, which portrays President Grover Cleveland, "as a novelty item, as few people have ever had the opportunity to see a bill in that denomination." The mayor fetched 10 $100 bills, and police switched the money and deposited it in an account for seized drug assets, the report said.
In September, county prosecutors refused to charge Smith with selling drugs and ordered the money returned. The city issued Smith a check for $3,231 to cover the $1,000 bill and his other cash.
Smith said he repeatedly called and visited police to ask for his rare bill, but officials refused to return it.
City Attorney Mark Zoole said the bill never left City Hall and would be returned to Smith, should he ask for it, once it was no longer considered evidence in a criminal case.
Zoole noted, "He, of course, would have to pay for it."
