PORTLAND — A Yamhill County jury has concluded that police can seize the home of a woman convicted of a felony drug crime under Oregon’s civil forfeiture law.
Sheryl Sublet, 62, pleaded guilty in 2018 to selling less than 1,000 grams of methamphetamine, The Oregonian/Oregon Live reported. She was sentenced to six years in prison.
Sublet, a grandmother and military veteran, forfeited $50,000 in cashier checks found inside her home about 3 miles outside Yamhill at the time of her arrest. The Yamhill County Interagency Narcotics Team then attempted to take Sublet’s $354,000 home.
Under Oregon’s civil forfeiture law, authorities can seize items from a person if they are convicted of a crime and if the property is suspected to be a proceed or instrument of the illegal conduct. The statute emphasizes that the value of the property forfeited should be “proportionate” to the conduct underlying the criminal conviction.
