{"id":1576,"date":"2017-03-14T15:25:09","date_gmt":"2017-03-14T19:25:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lawflog.com\/?p=1576"},"modified":"2017-03-14T15:25:09","modified_gmt":"2017-03-14T19:25:09","slug":"auctioneer-files-suit-over-botched-raid-on-car-sale","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lawflog.com\/?p=1576","title":{"rendered":"Auctioneer files suit over botched raid on car sale"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Imagine you&#8217;re a contractor who shows up at a job site\u00a0and on your first day of work you get arrested and charged with engaging in organized crime just because some dirty cops wanted to retaliate against the people who own the business. That&#8217;s pretty much what happened to Israel Curtis.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/lawflog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/TUCK1.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-1035\" src=\"http:\/\/lawflog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/TUCK1-258x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"258\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/lawflog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/TUCK1-258x300.jpg 258w, https:\/\/lawflog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/TUCK1.jpg 331w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 258px) 100vw, 258px\" \/><\/a>Since 2015, I&#8217;ve blogged about how officers of the Montgomery County Auto Theft Task Force botched a televised raid on an automobile auction in Anderson, Texas. \u00a0Mr. Curtis, a professional auctioneer, was hired to conduct the auction, and today he filed a <a href=\"http:\/\/lawflog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/2017.03.14-Original-complaint-stamped.pdf\">federal lawsuit<\/a> against Grimes County Sheriff Donald Sowell, Grimes County DA Tuck McLain, and former Montgomery County Sheriff Tommy Gage, among others.<\/p>\n<p>As I reported <a href=\"http:\/\/lawflog.com\/?p=1429\">back in October<\/a>, all criminal charges were dismissed against Mr. Curtis. According to Mr. Curtis, Lt. Sclider admitted that Mr. Curtis got &#8220;caught up&#8221; in the arrests because they needed at least three people to bring organized crime charges against business partners Les Shipman and Jerry Williams, but even the felony charges against Mr. Shipman and Mr. Williams were reduced to a single Class C misdemeanor each, <em>i.e.<\/em>, the equivalent of a traffic ticket.<\/p>\n<p><!--more-->As explained in an <a href=\"http:\/\/lawflog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/2016.10.28-Third-amended-federal-complaint.pdf\">earlier lawsuit<\/a> filed on behalf of Mr. Shipman, Lt. Sclider and his task-force flunkies had a longstanding grudge against him. A total of fifty-six cars were seized from the 2015 auction, and Lt. Sclider implied on television that they were stolen, but in reality none of them were stolen. Last October, 12th District Judge Donald Kramer ordered the cars returned to Mr. Shipman and Mr. Williams.<\/p>\n<p>Incidentally, I learned this afternoon that Lt. Sclider has been transferred and is no longer the commander of the task force. Maybe the new Montgomery County sheriff, Rand Henderson, decided he didn&#8217;t want to be held liable\u00a0for a loose cannon.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div class=\"sharedaddy sd-sharing-enabled\"><div class=\"robots-nocontent sd-block sd-social sd-social-icon-text sd-sharing\"><h3 class=\"sd-title\">Share this:<\/h3><div class=\"sd-content\"><ul><li class=\"share-facebook\"><a rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" data-shared=\"sharing-facebook-1576\" class=\"share-facebook sd-button share-icon\" href=\"https:\/\/lawflog.com\/?p=1576&amp;share=facebook\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Click to share on Facebook\" ><span>Facebook<\/span><\/a><\/li><li class=\"share-twitter\"><a rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" data-shared=\"sharing-twitter-1576\" class=\"share-twitter sd-button share-icon\" href=\"https:\/\/lawflog.com\/?p=1576&amp;share=twitter\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Click to share on Twitter\" ><span>Twitter<\/span><\/a><\/li><li class=\"share-reddit\"><a rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" data-shared=\"\" class=\"share-reddit sd-button share-icon\" href=\"https:\/\/lawflog.com\/?p=1576&amp;share=reddit\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Click to share on Reddit\" ><span>Reddit<\/span><\/a><\/li><li class=\"share-tumblr\"><a rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" data-shared=\"\" class=\"share-tumblr sd-button share-icon\" href=\"https:\/\/lawflog.com\/?p=1576&amp;share=tumblr\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Click to share on Tumblr\" ><span>Tumblr<\/span><\/a><\/li><li class=\"share-pinterest\"><a rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" data-shared=\"sharing-pinterest-1576\" class=\"share-pinterest sd-button share-icon\" href=\"https:\/\/lawflog.com\/?p=1576&amp;share=pinterest\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Click to share on Pinterest\" ><span>Pinterest<\/span><\/a><\/li><li class=\"share-linkedin\"><a rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" data-shared=\"sharing-linkedin-1576\" class=\"share-linkedin sd-button share-icon\" href=\"https:\/\/lawflog.com\/?p=1576&amp;share=linkedin\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Click to share on LinkedIn\" ><span>LinkedIn<\/span><\/a><\/li><li class=\"share-email\"><a rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" data-shared=\"\" class=\"share-email sd-button share-icon\" href=\"mailto:?subject=%5BShared%20Post%5D%20Auctioneer%20files%20suit%20over%20botched%20raid%20on%20car%20sale&body=https%3A%2F%2Flawflog.com%2F%3Fp%3D1576&share=email\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Click to email a link to a friend\" data-email-share-error-title=\"Do you have email set up?\" data-email-share-error-text=\"If you&#039;re having problems sharing via email, you might not have email set up for your browser. You may need to create a new email yourself.\" data-email-share-nonce=\"aca927f71a\" data-email-share-track-url=\"https:\/\/lawflog.com\/?p=1576&amp;share=email\"><span>Email<\/span><\/a><\/li><li class=\"share-end\"><\/li><\/ul><\/div><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Imagine you&#8217;re a contractor who shows up at a job site\u00a0and on your first day of work you get arrested and charged with engaging in organized crime just because some dirty cops wanted to retaliate against the people who own the business. That&#8217;s pretty much what happened to Israel Curtis. Since 2015, I&#8217;ve blogged about &#8230; <a class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/lawflog.com\/?p=1576\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"sharedaddy sd-sharing-enabled\"><div class=\"robots-nocontent sd-block sd-social sd-social-icon-text sd-sharing\"><h3 class=\"sd-title\">Share this:<\/h3><div class=\"sd-content\"><ul><li class=\"share-facebook\"><a rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" data-shared=\"sharing-facebook-1576\" class=\"share-facebook sd-button share-icon\" href=\"https:\/\/lawflog.com\/?p=1576&amp;share=facebook\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Click to share on Facebook\" ><span>Facebook<\/span><\/a><\/li><li class=\"share-twitter\"><a rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" data-shared=\"sharing-twitter-1576\" class=\"share-twitter sd-button share-icon\" href=\"https:\/\/lawflog.com\/?p=1576&amp;share=twitter\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Click to share on Twitter\" ><span>Twitter<\/span><\/a><\/li><li class=\"share-reddit\"><a rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" data-shared=\"\" class=\"share-reddit sd-button share-icon\" href=\"https:\/\/lawflog.com\/?p=1576&amp;share=reddit\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Click to share on Reddit\" ><span>Reddit<\/span><\/a><\/li><li class=\"share-tumblr\"><a rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" data-shared=\"\" class=\"share-tumblr sd-button share-icon\" href=\"https:\/\/lawflog.com\/?p=1576&amp;share=tumblr\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Click to share on Tumblr\" ><span>Tumblr<\/span><\/a><\/li><li class=\"share-pinterest\"><a rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" data-shared=\"sharing-pinterest-1576\" class=\"share-pinterest sd-button share-icon\" href=\"https:\/\/lawflog.com\/?p=1576&amp;share=pinterest\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Click to share on Pinterest\" ><span>Pinterest<\/span><\/a><\/li><li class=\"share-linkedin\"><a rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" data-shared=\"sharing-linkedin-1576\" class=\"share-linkedin sd-button share-icon\" href=\"https:\/\/lawflog.com\/?p=1576&amp;share=linkedin\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Click to share on LinkedIn\" ><span>LinkedIn<\/span><\/a><\/li><li class=\"share-email\"><a rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" data-shared=\"\" class=\"share-email sd-button share-icon\" href=\"mailto:?subject=%5BShared%20Post%5D%20Auctioneer%20files%20suit%20over%20botched%20raid%20on%20car%20sale&body=https%3A%2F%2Flawflog.com%2F%3Fp%3D1576&share=email\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Click to email a link to a friend\" data-email-share-error-title=\"Do you have email set up?\" data-email-share-error-text=\"If you&#039;re having problems sharing via email, you might not have email set up for your browser. 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