The State of California's Property Stealing Operation

The L.A. Times reports on theft:

Nearly 15 years ago, the state of California seized about $25,000 worth of stock that Richard Valdes had set aside and forgotten about.

He's been fighting to get it back almost ever since.

Valdes' stock was in an escrow account that the state declared dormant. But no one from the government tried to contact him before the shares were taken and sold. Valdes said he was effectively robbed of stock that would now be worth at least $100,000.

"It's unbelievable to me that they can destroy records and sell your property without notifying you," Valdes, 71, said. "I've lived in the same Newport Beach area for 50 years. It's very easy to get ahold of me."

Valdes is one of millions of people who have seen their financial accounts and safe-deposit boxes drained under the state's "unclaimed property" law, which generates about $400 million in annual revenue for Sacramento, according to the state controller's office.

Last month, however, a federal judge slapped the state with an injunction that at least temporarily halted the seizure of assets. U.S. District Court Judge William B. Shubb said the state wasn't giving "constitutionally adequate notice before accepting or taking title to property."

Valdes and others who have sued the state claim that the government doesn't even try to find people who have misplaced or forgotten about their assets.

Even worse, they say, is that the state contracts with financial "bounty hunters" — auditors who comb through records at banks, escrow companies and insurance firms and elsewhere to find dormant accounts. These companies are typically paid 6% to 12% of what they find, court and state records show.

What better proof than this that government is a criminal gang?