US Sheriff Dept Forced To Repay $70,000 After Buying A 707bhp Hellcat
An American police sheriff is feeling the heat himself after it emerged his office had reportedly used seized drug money to buy the team a Dodge Charger Hellcat… which he then used as his daily.
We have to admit we laughed quite a bit, but back to the facts. Sheriff Butch Conway (a superb name for a law enforcement agent) of Gwinnett County authorised a $69,258 payment for the Hellcat in April, with the money coming from ‘forfeiture funds,’ or seized assets. That can range from TVs to homes (all of which is sold), or even straightforward cash. This money, though, came from drugs.
While the purchase was apparently approved by the Department of Justice (DoJ) at the time, officials weren’t informed that it was the tasty 707bhp version of the popular four-door American icon. They’ve since re-branded the purchase as “excessive” and demanded the Sheriff’s office repays the money.
Sheriff Conway initially did his best to justify the purchase of the all-black car, which he had apparently been using to drive to and from work as well as taking it to ‘Beat the Heat’ events where the police can work with young drivers to educate them about the risks of driving drunk or distracted.
Responding to the DoJ’s assertion that legislation is there to prohibit the use of seized funds to make extravagant purchases, Sheriff Conway’s office provided a written statement to local media that said:
“Sheriff Conway maintains that this vehicle is an appropriate purchase, especially for an agency with a $92 million budget and the opportunity this vehicle provides in making our roadways safer.
Local news outlet the Atlanta Journal-Constitution added:
“The sheriff’s Hellcat application touted the high-powered vehicle’s potential use in Gwinnett County’s Beat the Heat program, a non-profit that uses drag races in controlled environments to “educate drivers about the dangers of distracted driving and illegal street racing”.”
Still, the money will be repaid as per the DoJ’s request. As for the Hellcat… well, we can only assume Sheriff Conway, who has been in office since 1996, will be protecting and serving from behind its hilarious supercharged V8 for a long time to come.
Source: Jalopnik
Comments
Take the car and use it as a cop car lmao
The only problem with that is as soon as a chase ends up on a twisty road it’s game over for the cop
With a name like Butch Conway, you can get whatever the heck you want
Imagine some drug dealers smuggling drugs WHEN SUDDENLY BUTCH CONWAY AND HIS HELLCAT APPEAR
his dad probably Butchered that name
‘Butch and the Hellcat’, please make this a Movie
This is gold
EVERYONE GO GET A SUPRA NOW
I guess you want police chases to end quickly
This is by far the most cool and epicest comment I’ve ever seen you deserve more downvotes 😁😁
Should’ve gotten the entry-level Challenger
Ha ha ha ha haHa ha ha ha haHa ha ha ha haHa ha ha ha haHa ha ha ha haHa ha ha ha ha…Murica
Civil forfiture is actully a real problem here in America that needs to be reassesed. Funds from civil forfiture have been used for anything from margarita makers to armored vehicles that are simply overkill. The truth is that a crime doesn’t need to be committed for civil forfiture to take place. Police can seize property, valuables, and cash just on suspicion. For exampe there was a man moving from Michigan to California with about 2 grand in cash to start his new life when he was stopped by police and the money was seized on the suspension that he was going to California to buy drugs. In civil forfiture, it is not the individual that is in trial, it is the property itself and it is up to the individual to prove its innocence rather than the authorities to prove that it was used in a crime. It is a broken system that needs to be reassesed especially when you see departments spening this money on unnecessary items such as a dodge hellcat.
this is something to think about. While I don’t give a sh!t about the drug dealers, but it is a loop hole that let the authority seize innocent asset for no good reason.
Seeing that sheriff is an elected office. The voters of that county can do what they see fit. Im glad you brought up the civil forfiture example. That actually happens alot im afraid
They don’t realize they are saving money. Just think about it, there is no need for a police siren, that engine can reved in Texas and heard in Miami
Here cops drive tesla model X’s
Why?