Editorial: A lesson in housekeeping

Wednesday, Oct. 12, 2005 | 8:08 a.m.

Boulder City's attorney has decided he doesn't want to seize Cynthia Warren's house after all. In fact, he says he never did.

Although state law allows authorities to confiscate any homes and vehicles used in drug dealing, Boulder City Attorney Dave Olsen told the Las Vegas Sun this week he is optimistic he will reach a cash settlement in the civil forfeiture suit he filed against Warren. In July she was convicted of marijuana possession, a misdemeanor.

Warren was arrested April 13 after police say they found six pot plants, 2.9 ounces of the marijuana, plastic sandwich bags, sales records and cultivation instructions inside her Boulder City home. In exchange for a no-contest plea, Warren received a suspended 30-day jail sentence and a $500 fine and is required to undergo drug counseling. And in exchange for whatever amount Olsen accepts, Warren also gets to keep her house, which is valued at $400,000 and nearly paid off.

In an effort to keep drug sales in check, Olsen said he regularly files for confiscation of personal property, such as houses and vehicles, in drug-related cases. One resident previously paid the city $3,000 rather than lose his vehicle, which authorities said was used to transport drugs.

Olsen filed the suit against Warren about a week after her arrest, and before she had been sentenced. But, as Olsen told the Sun this week, a settlement was his "objective from the outset" and is part of a process for dealing with such cases he has used for 16 years. Olsen has never taken anyone's property in such cases.

"We have always settled," he said. "Contrary to what some people might believe, I am not interested in taking this poor woman's house."

Well, "some people" believe what their city attorney says in the court documents he files. Forgive them. They should know better -- especially in a city where threatening to take away people's personal property for crimes for which they already have been punished is the way business is done. In talking with the Sun last month, Olsen said his office has a mandate to crack down on drug cases because two teenagers have died of overdoses in the past two years.

"The best way to send a message to folks that drug distribution to young people won't be tolerated is to take away their house," he told the Sun. "We are sending a message loud and clear that if you package and distribute drugs from your house, you lose your home." Unless you can provide, as Olsen calls Warren's settlement, "a token payment of some kind." That message also is clear and sounds more like extortion than crime prevention.