St. Louis police return cash to suspected crooks

ST. LOUIS -- St. Louis police officers have been tracking down suspected criminals -- and paying them cash.

A Missouri state auditor's report in June 2008 faulted the police department for using the Criminal Activity Forfeiture Act to hold $4 million that should have been returned and for not properly identifying the owners of about $591,000.

The department and circuit attorney's office blamed communications problems between the agencies for the stalled distribution of the money, and said those problems have been resolved.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported that since the audit, Sgt. Paul Bieniasz and Officer JoAnn Williams have arranged payments of about $2.3 million to the state's Unclaimed Property fund, other agencies or to people arrested as far back as 1997.

The money being returned is mostly linked to drug arrests, and it has gone to pay for attorneys' fees and helping recipients catch up on child-support payments.

But the officers handing out the cash know much of it won't be put to good use.

"We know they're more than likely going to be using that money to continue their criminal enterprises," Bieniasz said.

Williams added: "It's not for us to determine what they're going to do with it. It's their money."

Payments have ranged from $157,400 to about $50. But Bieniasz said most are between $2,000 and $3,000.

It's often tough to track down the recipients. It's tougher still to convince them that the payments are real.

"They think it's a setup," Williams said. "There is a fear of being taken into custody. You have to soothe their fears and assure them that it won't be a takedown. We urge them to get any outstanding warrants they may have cleared prior to our meeting.

"After that, it's convincing them that, 'Hey, we're here to get you your money back.'"