Couple Claim Police Kept Cash Confiscated in Raid

A retired couple charged Tuesday that Escondido police kept about $2,200 and ransacked their home during a 6 1/2-hour search for narcotics.

Edgar Maloney, 63, and his wife, Joy, 60, said that police descended on their Las Palmas Avenue home April 21 and seized “hundreds” of items, including about $13,000 in cash. No drugs were found. However, an inventory receipt left by police listed only five items that were taken, including $10,800 in currency.

Although the search was conducted almost six months ago and no charges have been brought against the couple, Maloney said police have not returned any of the seized items. Attorney Irene Miller is expected to file a $25,000 claim against the city and the Police Department today on behalf of the couple to compensate them for property loss and damage.

According to Maloney, he and his wife were entertaining two couples on the day of the search when police arrived at noon. Two armed officers confronted him in a hallway and began pushing him into the living room, he said. Maloney’s wife and the two other elderly couples were by the front porch when another group of officers pointed their guns at them and ordered them back in the house, Maloney said.

Maloney’s son, Bryan, 26, who was working on a car in the driveway, was handcuffed and ordered into the house, Maloney said, and a daughter, Nancy Baird, 35, was also ordered inside.

“They kept my son in handcuffs for 6 1/2 hours. His arms and wrists swelled up. We were under guard at the same time, and they wouldn’t let us get a drink of water without authorization from someone. . . . They said they were looking for drugs, but they didn’t find any. They took a bunch of my tax records, documents and other papers, along with the cash,” Maloney said.

Maloney, who said he has an auto dealer’s license, said he had sold a car and a truck and had taken a deposit on another car days before the search warrant was served. The money confiscated by police came from the sale of the vehicles, Maloney said.

“After they tore up my house, officer Barry Sweeney asked me if I had any money in the house. I directed him to the cash that I had in my office and inside a motor home. I showed him the money, took it out and started counting it. Sweeney yelled, ‘Don’t touch that money!’ and ordered another officer to take me back into the living room,” Maloney said.

Police gave him a receipt that was about $2,200 short, Maloney claims.

In a telephone interview, Sweeney, who is now a homicide detective, denied taking any money. “I don’t have the money,” he said. He claimed that Detective Ralph Grapoli signed the receipt.

However, Maloney said that Grapoli left during the search on the Las Palmas Avenue home to supervise a search of another home owned by Maloney in Temecula. Sweeney said police found $50,000 in cash in a car owned by Bryan Maloney and 80 pounds of chemicals used to make narcotics during a search of the Temecula home.

Sweeney said he does not know if any charges were ever filed against Bryan Maloney as a result of the search. Edgar Maloney said the search did not result in any charges against his son. However, Maloney acknowledged that his son was indicted earlier this year in a methamphetamine sting conducted by the Drug Enforcement Administration.

Maloney said his son and one of his daughters “hung around with a bunch of bums.”

Meanwhile, Sweeney said Tuesday, he recently received court authority to return some of the items seized from the Maloneys, who have been married 40 years.

“I’m not sure where their property is. I got an order yesterday to return some property back, but not all of it. The money is in the hands of the U.S. marshal’s office. We do have a vehicle and documents to return. But, according to the court order, I’m not supposed to return everything,” Sweeney said.

Sweeney said some of the documents have been turned over to federal authorities for their investigation.