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Michael Dix and Tracy Burns were busted for
marijuana and cocaine possession. Nine months
later, cops seized everything from their pickup
truck to a pooper scooper.
BY GEOFF S. FEIN
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Cleaned
Out |
Michael Dix
and Tracy Burns wear the look of frustration, anger and fear. They moved to Adel
four years ago from Waukee. Dix, a plumber, came from East Dubuque, Ill., because
of the construction boom and to be closer to his family. The couple's home is
several miles off Highway 6. The only noise they hear is the sounds of cooing doves
and barking dogs. Inside, borrowed furniture sits upon torn-up floors and
semi-finished walls, the byproduct of a remodeling project.
Their home is an empty nest.
But it wasn't always that way.
They had all the things a young couple could want: furniture, a stereo
and a VCR. Dix had his tools and a Ford pick-up.
And they both had a cocaine problem. |
"I was freaked out. I
begged them not to take things. I sat here and watched them rob me."
TRACY BURNS, WITH MIKE DIX, IN THEIR ADEL HOME |
On March 10, the couple's home was turned upside down
as Dallas County Sheriff's deputies searched for drugs. Months earlier, deputies
searched through their garbage for drugs, but came up with only a few seeds and a straw,
Dix says.
It was, however, enough to get a search warrant for the home.
The sheriff was originally tipped off by neighbors who complained about
increased traffic on Prospect Ave., a sign of drug dealing, says Dallas County Sheriff Art
Johnson.
Because no one was home during the raid, deputies left a letter
informing the couple of their pending arrest.
"Our attorney called them. We agreed to turn ourselves
in," Burns says.
But the Dallas County Sheriff couldn't wait.
"They went behind our lawyer's back and arrested us," Dix
says.
Burns, 26, and Dix, 37, were arrested March 14 on charges of possession
with intent to deliver. The raid turned up 5 grams of marijuana and 48 grams of
cocaine.
Though they had more than an ounce and a half of cocaine, Burns and Dix
deny they were dealers, instead claiming it was for their own use.
On June 26, Burns and Dix pleaded guilty to not having a drug tax
stamp. The Dallas County attorney dismissed the possession charges, avoiding a
trial. The couple were placed on five years probation, paid fines and entered drug
treatment.
Six months later they're adhering to the court's orders, staying off
drugs and working to turn their lives around, Burns says.
Little did Burns or Dix know their past would come back to rob them.
On Dec. 15, Burns returned to the Dallas County Sheriff's department to
retrieve items taken during the March search. She got back all but one - a videotape.
The next day she was sitting in her living room when a deputy drove up.
"I thought he was coming to drop off the tape," Burns says.
Until she say the other vehicles.
Deputies and agents of the Iowa Department of Revenue had come to
collect on the couple's failure to pay the drug stamp tax.
The tax, which sounds more like a leftover from the Revolutionary War,
is a way for Iowa to collect on the multi-million dollar drug trade.
"It's a means to have this segment of society pay its fair
share," says Lucille Hardy, an assistant with the attorney general's revenue
division. "It's revenue the state is entitled to."
Since Sept. 1990, Iowa has required a stamp be affixed to a baggie of
marijuana or a vial of cocaine. Any illegal drug requires a stamp. And it
ain't cheap.
A $5 tax is due on each gram of marijuana; $250 on each gram of
cocaine, heroin or methamphetamine; $750 on each unprocessed marijuana plant; and $400 per
10 pills, from the moment of possession.
"This is a business with no income tax, no sales tax, so we
enacted an excise tax," Hardy says.
Iowa law prevents the Department of Revenue from sharing information on
drug tax stamp applicants with law enforcement agencies. Even with that assurance,
few people are lining up to admit they are in possession.
A program manager with the Department of Revenue says few if any stamps
have been sold, except maybe to stamp collectors.
Some attorneys have begun telling clients to get the tax stamps, Hardy
says.
"The number of applicants is small in comparison to the number of
people in possession of drugs," she says.
Taxing situation
Burns and Dix owed the government $24,242.40, half in
taxes, half in penalties.
Failure to pay results in immediate collection.
That's what the state did.
During the three-hour seizure, Lori Dennis, an agent of the Iowa
Department of Revenue and Finance, and seven sheriff's deputies took six truckloads of
items. Among them were stereo equipment, a bug zapper, pooper scooper, bread box,
couch and love seat, milk can, 50-foot roll of air hose, Christmas presents, a
Thighmaster, Burns' engagement rings and Dix's 1994 Ford Ranger.
"I was freaked out. I begged them not to take things,"
Burns says. "I sat here and watched them rob me."
The state took more than 150 items.
Neither Burns nor Dix had any idea they owed the money.
"No one contacted us about the law," Dix says.
"The Department of Revenue said most people don't pay. This is why they don't
give notice."
The notice sent to Burns and Dix was postmarked the afternoon of
Dec.16, the day of the raid. It's possible the notice wasn't even sent until
afterward.
Dennis wouldn't comment.
"We don't have a lot of advance warning, says Don Cooper,
Administrator of Compliance with the Department of Revenue. "The usual process
is to hand deliver it. It's not a typical case to mail notice of the tax."
Nothing about this case is typical.
No advance warning is given because violators are usually unwilling to
pay the tax. They may hide, sell off their possessions or flee, making it harder for
the state to collect, Cooper says.
But Burns and Dix say they were willing to work out a payment plan.
And it's doubtful they would have fled - both have jobs and own their home.
"They were never given a chance to work on a payment plan,"
says Burns' attorney Dean Stowers.
The number of people prosecuted for not buying the stamps is unknown.
Hardy says the Attorney General's office collected more than $400,000 in back taxes
in 1996.
While the Department of Revenue states it's willing to work out payment
plans, acceptance of a plan is at the department's discretion.
"They are saying they use discretion, but they can't say how.
Is it up to the individual revenue officer?" Stowers says.
Truth is, Burns and Dix never got the chance to ask about a payment
plan.
The letter sent to them said if they wanted to discuss a payment plan,
they should call the Department of Revenue on Dec. 16. But they didn't get the
letter, sent registered mail, until Dec. 18, two days after the raid.
During the seizure, Burns says law enforcement went through the house
tagging items, acting as if they were on a shopping spree.
"They made it sound like they were taking things for their own
personal use," Burns says.
When she asked to call her attorney, Burns says not only did officers
refuse to let her answer the phone without paying $24,242.40, but they tagged the phone
and seized it.
"I sat in the corner of the room and they stood over me,"
Burns says. "They said if we listened to them this wouldn't happen."
Burns and Dix both believe the reason for the seizure was that they
refused to be snitches. When they were arrested in March, the couple says Sheriff's
Investigator Kelly Sutten asked them to turn over names. "The police were upset
because the people wouldn't become snitches. The cops carried a grudge over
this," Stowers says.
Sutten was on vacation and unavailable to comment.
Coping
Dix was in the middle of remodeling the house. The
job was made a bit easier when police broke down the door and ripped up the carpet.
Losing his tools and feeling victimized by the authorities, however has made it hard for
him to continue.
"I got so much hard work into this," Dix says.
"It's hard to control my anger."
Dix was hoping to spend some time over his vacation doing work around
the house. But not now.
"I'm trying to keep occupied. I have no tools and I'm afraid
to buy anything. They could come back and take them."
Tools were not the only thing he lost.
When authorities took his truck, they directly affected the terms of
his probation. Dix can no longer drive to weekly recovery meetings in Des Moines.
He's now trying to make arrangements with his probation officer so he isn't charged
with violating probation.
"No one is making much effort to work with us," Dix says.
Burns says she has trouble sleeping and has gone to a doctor because of
the raid. "It's scary. They can come in any time and take things,"
she says.
Burns and Dix say they put in long hours at work to keep their minds
off their situation.
"It's not bad working long hours when you don't have much to come
home to," Dix says.
"We knew we had five years ahead of us, but we were doing really
well. This is like a smack in the face," Burns says. "Now we just
sit here and look at nothing we have."
Seized
The police wrote this list of items they took from
the home of Tracy Burns and Michael Dix for failure to pay the stamp tax on their drugs
- Kenmore microwave
- 1-gallon jug of pennies
- Wine rack & contents
- CDs & rack
- 7 Nintendo 64 games
- Star Fox 64 games
- Two blank video tapes
- Three VCR video tapes (movies)
- 50' roll of yellow airhose
- Nokia cell phone
- Pentax 35mm camera
- Hitachi TV
- Nintendo 64
- Hitachi VCR
- Coffee table
- Table lamp
- Wooden TV trays
- Two hand held video games
- RCA Dish TV
- Maglite
- Bread box
- Sears Craftsman lawn tractor
- Couch & love seat
- Sony boom box radio
- Telephone stand
- Oreck XL Vacuum cleaner
- Avon Michael Jordon watch
- Gold colored rope style chain
- Antique style Austin phone
- Brass plant stand
- Metal step ladder
- Miscellaneous hand tools
- Bread maker
- Goose cookie jar & pennies inside
- Black Hills ring
- Solitaire ring
- Microwave stand
- Telephone system
- Norman Laboratory Speakers
- Hpm - 60 Speakers
- One set soft side luggage
- Table & chairs (dining room)
- Folding card table (4 chairs)
- CD file & 12 CDs
- Box containing 76 CDs
- Stand up mirror
- Box & 7 CDs
- White jug full of pennies
- Collector plates
- Collector plates
- Collector plates
- Collector plates
- Collector plates
- Collector plates
- Collector plates
- Collector plates
- Collector plates
- Collector plates
- Collector plates
- Collector plates
- Darts & dart case
- Misc. costume jewelry
- Florescent lantern
- Dewalt circular saw
- Coleman Dual Fuel Lantern
- Camping stools
- Delta Mitre saw
- (illegible)
- Skil 4 1/2 angle grinder
- Air compressor regulators
- Spray gun
- Spray gun
- Air heater
- Tool cabinet & contents
- Air compressor
- ICE auger
- Halogen light
- Shopvac
- Battery charger
- Craftsman chainsaw
- Fiberglass 6' Ladder
- (illegible)
- B & D buffer
- Whistler radar detector
- Folding ladder
- Dewalt drill & case
- Silver horn saddle (kid size)
- Adult saddle
- Four fishing poles
- Gas trimmer
- Boat anchor
- Huffy bike
- Palm sander
- Mag cement float
- Drop cord
- Swingline stapler
- Floor support stands
- Sheet rock square
- Oreck hand held vac
- Ford Ranger pick-up truck
- Drill bit index & bits
- Halogen lamp
- Liars bench
- Tent
- Hole saw
- Belt sander
- Plumber bit kit
- Three ice fishing poles
- Tackle box & contents
- New kitchen faucet
- Well pump
- Patio tables & chairs w/umbrella
- Bug zapper
- Milk can
- Servess 5hp roto tiller
- Turbo wash
- Almn grain scoop
- Quasar camcorder
- Self propelled push mower
- Paramount weed trimmer
- Sheridan pellet gun
- Winston lighter set
- Bose speaker
- Elvis decanter
- Elvis decanter
- Video rewinder
- Bushnell binoculars
- Box of 18 CDs
- New Ford rim
- Music box carousel horses
- Music box carousel horses
- Music box carousel horses
- Music box carousel horses
- Music box carousel horses
- Music box carousel horses
- Music box carousel horses
- Music box carousel horses
- Brass carousel horse
- Green bakeware
- (illegible)
- Pioneer turntable
- Backgammon
- TEAC graphic equalizer
- Pioneer cassette tape deck
- Kenwood receiver
- Sony CD player
- Elvis decanter
- Thighmaster
- Stanley stud finder
- AM/FM Clock Radio
- $75 cash
- $75 cash
- $75 cash
Cityview
January 7, 1998, Page 7-8
fax 515-288-0309
email: cityview@mail.commonlink.com
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