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Thread: Cops Seized Couple's $160,000 Wine Collection—And Want to Destroy It All

  1. #1

    Cops Seized Couple's $160,000 Wine Collection—And Want to Destroy It All




    Earlier this year, after a months-long undercover investigation, Pennsylvania state police agents served a warrant on the home of Arthur Goldman, an attorney, and his wife, Melissa Kurtzman.

    The police, who had made undercover buys at the home before, easily found what they were looking for. And they found lots of it. In a raid that lasted twenty hours, police seized thousands of ounces of alleged contraband from the couple's home.

    In addition to the seizure, police charged Mr. Goldman with a crime.

    So just what was it that led police to target the homeowners? Cocaine? Marijuana? Meth? Raw milk?

    None of the above. This bizarre and infuriating case involves no illicit substance whatsoever. It's a case about wine. Legally purchased wine, at that.

    Goldman and Kurtzman are now fighting the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in court. They argue the state's seizure of more than 2,400 bottles of fine wine is unconstitutional and are seeking to force Pennsylvania to return the entire collection. The state, on the other hand, has designs on destroying the wine.

    I first heard about the case earlier this year, after Pennsylvania authorities seized the wine. But my interest in the case was renewed recently when a law student in a class I taught at George Mason University Law School this semester wrote a paper on Pennsylvania's absurd liquor laws. She used the case of Pennsylvania v. 2,447 Bottles of Wine—a case that owes its name to an odd quirk of property seizure cases, which pit the state not against the property owners but against the property itself—to illustrate the sheer breadth and idiocy of the state's liquor laws. (Notably, one of the more memorable cases I read when I was a law student was United States v. Forty Barrels and Twenty Kegs of Coca-Cola, a case from the early 1900s in which the FDA tried to ban caffeine from appearing in soda.)

    The story of Pennsylvania's seizure of 2,400 bottles of wine dates to 2006, according to new filings in the case that I've reviewed, when Goldman and Krutzman married. Goldman purchased wine—including over the internet—on a regular basis. The couple housed their growing wine collection at their New Jersey home. They continued to do so for the next seven years. And their collection grew as a result.

    Goldman, who appears to have enjoyed talking about wine as much as buying it, also gained access to inventories in California that were off limits to everyday wine buyers. Generously, he invited friends and colleagues to join in purchasing wines from these California suppliers to which he had this rare access. He did this by distributing information to an email list made up of these friends and colleagues. They would pool their orders, Goldman would place the order, and the wines would arrive at Goldman's New Jersey home or at a nearby FedEx office. Goldman would then distribute the wines to those who'd ordered them. Goldman and those who'd ordered the wines shared the costs of the wine, taxes, shipment, and any other fees. While Goldman gave these friends and colleagues access to great wines that they otherwise might not be able to buy, Goldman never charged any fees or made any profit from these pooled wine orders.

    It seems like Goldman did everything he could to buck the traditional lawyer stereotype. He enjoyed conversation, he was encouraging, he was willing to donate his time and social capital to help others, and he did all that without expecting something in return. He sounds like the kind of person—let alone lawyer—you'd be happy to know.

    In 2013, Goldman and his wife bought a home in Malvern, Pennsylvania. They continued to use the New Jersey home as their primary residence and as the storage space for their ample wine collection.

    Why? Maybe work or family commitments dictated they remain in New Jersey. Maybe moving thousands of bottles of wine is costly. Or maybe it's that Pennsylvania famously boasts many idiotic, counterintuitive, and completely unnecessary alcohol laws.

    That's no exaggeration. Want to buy wine over the internet? Pennsylvania says go right ahead, so long as the buyer gets "it shipped to the Wine & Spirits Store of their choice." The state wants to keep an eye on what you're buying—especially because it won't let you buy wines that are available in the state store.

    Want to ship wine to Pennsylvania? It's easy! Just "add a $4.50 handling fee, Pennsylvania's 18% liquor tax, 6% sales tax (and 2% sales tax in Philadelphia or 1% Allegheny counties)." The state wants a cut of your purchase.

    Driving through Pennsylvania with a few bottles of wine, and think it's alright to stop off at hotel for the night? Since your wine's not "merely transported through the state, without stopping[,]" the law would seem to indicate that you need a buy a license for that wine—whether you drink it or leave it in the car.

    That's because "[t]he law prohibits anyone other than the Board, a manufacturer, the holder of a sacramental wine license or importer's license from bringing alcohol into Pennsylvania, and from possessing or transporting any liquor or alcohol within the Commonwealth that was not purchased from a Pennsylvania wine and spirits store[.]"

    And then there are the ridiculous state stores.

    All told, Pennsylvania is "the only state besides Utah to control retail and wholesale liquor operations, residents must purchase wine and spirits from state stores or in-state wineries."

    ...

    To illustrate that point, fast forward to March 2013. It was then that, while Goldman's and his wife's wine collection slept soundly at their New Jersey home, an "anonymous complainant reported" Goldman to Pennsylvania's Bureau of Liquor Control Enforcement (BCLE) for allegedly selling wine in Pennsylvania without a license.

    It's unclear who the informant is or what they claimed Goldman had done. But that same month, an undercover BCLE officer "infiltrated... Mr. Goldman's mailing list." The officer then made a buy (to use undercover cop parlance), joining in one of Goldman's pooled orders from California.

    This officer was soon joined on the list by another undercover officer, who posed as his stepdaughter, and still another officer, who posed as the second officer's fiance. These officers also joined in the pooled orders.

    Continuing with his generosity, Goldman shared glasses of his own wine with the undercover officers in his home. He gave them a tour of his wine cellar, which by July 2014 was located in his Malvern home, now the marital residence.

    Testing the limits of that generosity, the officers concocted a story about looking for a special wedding gift of wine. Though Goldman wasn't in the business of selling wine, he made an exception, selling to undercover agents a total of four or five bottles—at cost—from his personal collection.

    Soon afterwards, on January, 6, 2014, Pennsylvania police raided the home and seized more than 2,400 bottles of wine. They charged Goldman was an unlicensed wine dealer who made purchases in contravention of state law, and that his alleged crimes required Pennsylvania to destroy the entirety of the couple's wine collection—worth an estimated $160,000.

    Goldman pled down the criminal "charge by entering a first-offender program," according to reports. Goldman also must write a letter to the local bar association explaining why it's important to follow the law.

    ..

    http://reason.com/archives/2014/12/2...turn-of-wine/1



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  3. #2
    $#@! the state, abolish the state.

    Really the only thoughts that come to my mind..
    The ultimate minority is the individual. Protect the individual from Democracy and you will protect all groups of individuals
    Rightful liberty is unobstructed action according to our will within limits drawn around us by the equal rights of others. I do not add 'within the limits of the law' because law is often but the tyrant's will, and always so when it violates the rights of the individual. - Thomas Jefferson
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    - Bene Gesserit Litany Against Fear

  4. #3
    Want to ship wine to Pennsylvania? It's easy! Just "add a $4.50 handling fee, Pennsylvania's 18% liquor tax, 6% sales tax (and 2% sales tax in Philadelphia or 1% Allegheny counties)." The state wants a cut of your purchase.
    All that Freedom is expensive.
    All modern revolutions have ended in a reinforcement of the power of the State.
    -Albert Camus

  5. #4
    HAH HAH...

    AT every turn across America, look at all the shakedowns of the MAFIA, then look what government is doing. Frankly, the MAFIA would take a 10% cut and let you go about your business and property, so yeah, the government is a horrible and tyrannical dictatorship that is far more brutal than the MAFIA.
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  6. #5
    I feel much safer with these criminals off the streets. The taxpayer money that went into this investigation and prosecution was well worth it.
    "Foreign aid is taking money from the poor people of a rich country, and giving it to the rich people of a poor country." - Ron Paul
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  7. #6
    I'm just confused as to why the PA police were involved and how did they raid the house in NJ? If the wine was in NJ and NJ was their primary residency, WTF does a PA law have to do with anything?

  8. #7
    Quote Originally Posted by specsaregood View Post
    I'm just confused as to why the PA police were involved and how did they raid the house in NJ? If the wine was in NJ and NJ was their primary residency, WTF does a PA law have to do with anything?
    Continuing with his generosity, Goldman shared glasses of his own wine with the undercover officers in his home. He gave them a tour of his wine cellar, which by July 2014 was located in his Malvern home, now the marital residence.
    All modern revolutions have ended in a reinforcement of the power of the State.
    -Albert Camus

  9. #8
    Chester Copperpot
    Member

    yeah they want to destroy the wine.. in their gastrointestinal tract.



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  11. #9
    Quote Originally Posted by HOLLYWOOD View Post
    HAH HAH...

    AT every turn across America, look at all the shakedowns of the MAFIA, then look what government is doing. Frankly, the MAFIA would take a 10% cut and let you go about your business and property, so yeah, the government is a horrible and tyrannical dictatorship that is far more brutal than the MAFIA.
    Yup. 27% plus a $4.50 handling fee. So on a $100 bottle of wine total cost comes to $131.50 with the 31.5% "sin" tax cut. Thieves need to be pilloried and publicly excoriated before banishment.

  12. #10
    Quote Originally Posted by otherone View Post
    Continuing with his generosity, Goldman shared glasses of his own wine with the undercover officers in his home. He gave them a tour of his wine cellar, which by July 2014 was located in his Malvern home, now the marital residence.
    Ah, ok, missed that they moved it all. That musta been a PITA to relocate.

  13. #11
    Lawyer........

    Think maybe he'll throw off the trappings of his vocation and stop empowering the system that's targeted him?


    I doubt it!

  14. #12
    Quote Originally Posted by tod evans View Post
    Lawyer........

    Think maybe he'll throw off the trappings of his vocation and stop empowering the system that's targeted him?


    I doubt it!
    Oh, I'm sure he thought he was a member of the protected class. Obviously, he wasn't a D.A.

  15. #13
    Quote Originally Posted by HOLLYWOOD View Post
    HAH HAH...

    AT every turn across America, look at all the shakedowns of the MAFIA, then look what government is doing. Frankly, the MAFIA would take a 10% cut and let you go about your business and property, so yeah, the government is a horrible and tyrannical dictatorship that is far more brutal than the MAFIA.
    "The Federal Mafia" by Irwin Schiff...
    BEWARE THE CULT OF "GOVERNMENT"

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  16. #14
    Quote Originally Posted by phill4paul View Post
    Oh, I'm sure he thought he was a member of the protected class. Obviously, he wasn't a D.A.
    I'm left wondering who knew enough about the law and his activities to be the "anonymous complaintant" that initially tipped off the state.

  17. #15
    Quote Originally Posted by Brian4Liberty View Post
    I feel much safer with these criminals off the streets. The taxpayer money that went into this investigation and prosecution was well worth it.
    Well, the taxes that this scofflaw was trying to avoid amounted to $43,200 (plus an unknown "handling" amount). Meh, I can see the investigation, three investigators plus litigation, well exceeding that amount.
    Last edited by phill4paul; 12-20-2014 at 02:56 PM.

  18. #16
    Quote Originally Posted by specsaregood View Post
    I'm left wondering who knew enough about the law and his activities to be the "anonymous complaintant" that initially tipped off the state.
    Sour grapes? Someone not cut in on the buying, maybe. Whoever it is seems like an $#@!.



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  20. #17
    Quote Originally Posted by Suzanimal View Post
    Sour grapes? Someone not cut in on the buying, maybe. Whoever it is seems like an $#@!.
    If you see something say something...

  21. #18
    Goldman also must write a letter to the local bar association explaining why it's important to follow the law.
    Its important to follow the law, because if the law isn't followed, that means the law is no longer important.

    That, and armed men take your wine if you don't.
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  22. #19
    Quote Originally Posted by specsaregood View Post
    I'm just confused as to why the PA police were involved and how did they raid the house in NJ? If the wine was in NJ and NJ was their primary residency, WTF does a PA law have to do with anything?
    You missed the part where they moved, themselves and the wine, to their Pennsylvania residence.
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  23. #20
    Quote Originally Posted by specsaregood View Post
    I'm left wondering who knew enough about the law and his activities to be the "anonymous complaintant" that initially tipped off the state.
    I'm guessing he didn't use the "ignorance" of the law defense that some in the law enforcement community are able to get away with after the SCrOTUS decision.

  24. #21
    Quote Originally Posted by specsaregood View Post
    I'm left wondering who knew enough about the law and his activities to be the "anonymous complaintant" that initially tipped off the state.
    It sounds like he was pretty open about his love of wine, and his bypassing of local merchants...Probably the later led to the complaint.
    "Foreign aid is taking money from the poor people of a rich country, and giving it to the rich people of a poor country." - Ron Paul
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  25. #22
    Seems like it was the undercover people who nudged this guy into blatantly breaking liquor laws.

    Entrapment much?

  26. #23
    Quote Originally Posted by VIDEODROME View Post
    Seems like it was the undercover people who nudged this guy into blatantly breaking liquor laws.

    Entrapment much?
    I'm sorry, I don't understand. Where did the cops say it was entrapment?
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  27. #24
    Quote Originally Posted by VIDEODROME View Post
    Seems like it was the undercover people who nudged this guy into blatantly breaking liquor laws.

    Entrapment much?
    There's a thing called "predisposition" that must be hurdled before a defence of entrapment may be contemplated.....



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  29. #25
    And somehow, I'm a bad guy for not shedding the appropriate amount of North Korean "Dead Dear Leader" crocodile tears over those two cops that got shot in NYC...

    Goldman also must write a letter to the local bar association explaining why it's important to follow the law.



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