Monday, September 15, 2014

U.S. v. Gadson (9th Cir. - Aug. 19, 2014)

This house is somewhat cute.  Small, of course.  A fixer-upper.  But right along the river in Fairbanks, Alaska.  Lots of space.  For sale now for $119,500.  The beauty and splendor of the Alaska frontier can be yours for an insubstantial chunk of change.

Though thanks to the second paragraph of this opinion from Judge Ikuta, it's now public knowledge that this home "was the hub of a drug trafficking operation" selling crack cocaine.  A search of which revealed "a shoe box on top of the living room couch containing approximately a kilogram of cocaine, another shoe box containing another kilogram of cocaine and some $29,000 in cash behind the drugs. . . . . A loaded shotgun and ballistic vests were found near the shoe boxes. Powder cocaine, crack cocaine, ecstasy, marijuana, drug paraphernalia, and more cash and money orders were found in various locations in the kitchen and dining room. The bedrooms contained more drugs. . . . [including] powder cocaine, crack, marijuana, heroin, 156 tabs of ecstasy, and approximately $13,000 in cash."

Presumably, none of that comes with the $119,500 purchase price.

The asking price of this property -- which has been pretty much consistently listed for sale since 2008 -- has fluctuated greatly over time.

I wonder if Judge Ikuta's express reference to this address will nudge it down a bit.