In August 2020, flashing police lights stopped Christopher Bouldin’s van on this short ribbon of road as he headed west through Seward County.
Seward County deputies had just found $18,000 in cash rolled up in a blue sleeping bag in his backseat.
In the past five years, Seward County law enforcement has hauled in $7.5 million from forfeitures, according to county financial records and Department of Justice annual reports.
But, in Seward County, much of that money pours in from civil forfeiture cases like Bouldin’s.
“It doesn’t surprise me that Seward County is the leading county in these types of proceedings.”.
In the past decade, Seward has seized money in at least 90 state civil forfeiture cases, nearly double any other Nebraska county.
Money seized by civil forfeiture in Seward County is also rarely returned because it’s difficult and costly to fight. »