It is a felony to carry more than $10k in cash in Texas

[Horse with no Name]

If you are caught with more than that, it can be seized and you can be thrown in jail. No questions asked.
I don't know about you...but there is really something wrong with that law.

[Richardo]

1. I'm the most law-abiding citizen in the state, then

:-/

[AngryAmish]

2. cite please

specific statute - so we can all look it up

[NoPasaran]

5. Yes! Please cite the statute.

Otherwise this sounds like one of those internet rumors.

[Horse with no Name]

6. I read it in the paper

http://www.heraldbanner.com/local/local_story_149012543.html
>>>snip
In Texas it is a third degree felony to travel with more than $10,000 in cash, a second degree felony to travel with over $100,000 in cash and a first degree felony to travel with over $200,000 cash.

I am trying to find the statute now.

[AngryAmish]

10. It looks like she was busted for money laundering

She must have implicated herself in knowing it was the proceeds of a criminal enterprise.

It is a poorly written article.

But, no, if you have a lot of money you cannot be thrown in jail "no questions asked." They may seize it, but you can go to court to get it back.

[Redbear]

12. She was not charged with carrying more than $10,000 because there

is no such crime in Texas.

She was charged with money laundering, in this case concealing and transporting the proceeds of criminal activity.

[Art_from_Ark]

14. According to the article, there is such a "crime"

"In Texas it is a third degree felony to travel with more than $10,000 in cash, a second degree felony to travel with over $100,000 in cash and a first degree felony to travel with over $200,000 cash."

[ctaylors6]

16. Those penalties are for money laundering crimes. Not for carrying money generally

The newspaper article could have been worded a little better to make clear that the sentence you quoted is for the penalties for money laundering. See Texas Penal Code section 34 (money laundering).
Link: http://tlo2.tlc.state.tx.us/statutes/docs/PE/content/pdf/pe.007.00.000034.00.pdf

[Oceansaway]

3. i'll never have to worry about that....n/t

[havocmom]

4. That suggests state sponsorship of corporate currency (plastic) over real currency

Wow, there HAS to be some hungry lawyer out there willing to take THAT class action on :evilgrin:

[JayMusgrove]

31. And if you are not him, why do you waste our time with

your posts.

This is just simple sense. If you are carrying around $10,000 in cash, what possible legitimate activity are you engaged in?

Please tell me 1 or 2 or 3 that come to mind in the next 20 minutes.

I can't think of ANY.

[havocmom]

33. I live in an area where many are very frugal AND the bank is a long way away

Many of the old timers in our county (which is VERY big with few paved roads and lousy weather) do not keep all their money in a bank. One bank in the county, and over an hour from most of the ranchers. When ranchers go to town or a bull sale here, some of the older ones carry cash, a lot of cash. Lots of people buy equipment and vehicles for cash around here too. They know it means paperwork, but some of them do it anyway.

Many people up north travel south for winter. Many people come here to hunt. Many of them carry cash rather than plastic. Might be hard to imagine, but it does happen.

Just because YOU don't have a reason to carry a lot of cash, nobody else might? What arrogance!

By the fucking way, who do you think you are making demands on when you are to be responded to? I am online sorta hit and miss, so you can piss off with your 'in the next 20 minutes' crap. You don't look anything like my mother.

[csziggy]

34. I was buying a truck out of town from a private person

He didn't know me, and did not want a check. I had the money wired to me at a branch of my regular bank and took the cash to him. $12,500. The money actually went straight to his banker since he had to pay off his truck loan to clear the title to come to me.

Also when I was buying broodmares, I would go to the registered stock auctions with cash. The amount varied depending on my budget for that auction and how many horses I expected to bid on. The only other way to work with that auction company was to "deposit" a registered check ahead of time and then if you did not spend all of the deposit, wait for a refund. Most people took cash. With the quality horses I was buying, it was not unusual for me to budget $10-15,000 for three or four horses.

Same idea - I bought an AQHA Champion stallion for $16,000. Cash deal.

All legitimate business deals and normal for the horse trading business.

[JVS]

7. With that much cash I'd be able to be somewhere better anyway, so no biggie.

[Subdivisions]

21. What the fuck do you mean "somewhere better"? I'm gettting sick

and goddamned tired of the region-bashing of Texas that goes on here at DU!

[JVS]

27. So having places that you'd rather be is bashing? LOL It's a big world and plenty of it is...

better than texas.

[Xenotime]

24. Agreed. Somewhere more progressive.

[Subdivisions]

25. That's it. Abandon Texas to those who would usurp progressive

values. Seems to me the smart thing to do would be to continue the bluing of Texas, rather than sacrificing Texas to the republicons and fundamentalists.

[JVS]

26. Or just somewhere with nicer weather. Or a less crazy governor.

[ejpoeta]

8. yes, no one could legitimately, i suppose, have more than that on them. like, perhaps

they have been squirreling away money for a length of time and are taking it to the bank... or maybe to purchase a vehicle or something. there are people who have done that.... i remember a guy who paid for a new vehicle with quarters he had been saving for years. this law is bullshit! i am surprised texans don't get up in arms over something like this. protest in the streets. i mean, the government is basically trying to force you to put your money in a bank. it's ridiculous!

[DBoon]

13. or you run a business that is cash intensive

and you are making a deposit?

People still pay cash for many things

[rurallib]

9. I would like to challenge this. So members of DU send contributions to

"Rurallib c/o ...................

[JayMusgrove]

18. Second laugh of my morning! (Oh yes... and my ....

money is in the mail to you!!)

[Whoa_Nelly]

11. I think it's from the TX Anti-monay laundering statutes

http://www.teakelllaw.com/CM/Custom/money-laundering.html


However, there are some TX police who carryt his a little too far...

Texas police shake down drivers, lawsuit claims


TENAHA, Texas (CNN) -- Roderick Daniels was traveling through eastern Texas in October 2007 when, he says, he was the victim of a highway robbery.

The Tennessee man says he was ordered to pull his car over and surrender his jewelry and $8,500 in cash that he had with him to buy a new car.

But Daniels couldn't go to the police to report the incident.

The men who stopped him were the police.

Daniels was stopped on U.S. Highway 59 outside Tenaha, near the Louisiana state line. Police said he was driving 37 mph in a 35 mph zone. They hauled him off to jail and threatened him with money-laundering charges -- but offered to release him if he signed papers forfeiting his property.

"I actually thought this was a joke," Daniels told CNN.

But he signed.

"To be honest, I was five, six hundred miles from home," he said. "I was petrified."

Now Daniels and other motorists who have been stopped by Tenaha police are part of a lawsuit seeking to end what plaintiff's lawyer David Guillory calls a systematic fleecing of drivers passing through the town of about 1,000.

more at: http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/05/05/texas.police.seizures/

[backscatter712]

15. Especially if you're black or Latino.

Gotta love Texas law enforcement...

[JayMusgrove]

17. All banks are required to report deposits of cash of over $10K these days

I think it's both drug and 9/11 related.

[montanto]

19. 10K cash deposit reporting has been going on since the 70's that I know of.

I worked in a bank 78-82. IRS requires reporting. Thats why "money laundering" exists. If you could just deposit cash w/o reporting, then no issue.

[Statistical]

20. Make lots of $9000 deposits. n/t

[uncle ray]

22. the rule isn't a rigid 10 k limit anymore.

any large amount will flag you, especially several transactions just below the mythical limit.

[Raskolnik]

23. The banks and feds have algorithms in place to catch just about all that type of thing. n/t

[JayMusgrove]

29. When I make a cash deposit, I make sure it is in pennies!

Just because I want to make sure my terrorist identity is never revealed.

[NoPasaran]

32. Are those a million pennies in your pocket?

Or are you just happy to be in Texas?

[csziggy]

35. That has been a requirement for well over 20 years

We've run into that a few times while horse trading. And it is mostly to give authorities a heads up on drug dealing.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

28. It's not a crime.

It's probable cause to investigate a crime.

[JayMusgrove]

30. Sharp people like you......probably

won't be admired as much as I will admire you for stating facts.