LONG VIEW — A decision on whether a Longview drug trafficker could have accessed his seized cars and bank accounts was released this month — almost a year after he died and nine years after his conviction.
Sidney Albert Potts, 70, died Jan. 6, 2021, while serving a roughly 34-year prison sentence for his 2013 convictions on six felonies, including organized crime.
His death came almost a year after he filed his last appeal in this case against a Cowlitz County Superior Court decision that approved the loss of his property, including vehicles at his Longview business Potts Family Motors, which detectives say he used as a front to sell drugs.
Washington State Court of Appeals, Division II Judge Bernard F. Veljacic denied Potts’ request to access the property in a Feb. 1 unpublished opinion.
Potts was found guilty on four counts of delivery of methamphetamines and one count of methamphetamine possession in 2013 in Cowlitz County Superior Court.
Authorities said they seized $10,000 worth of methamphetamines, 25 vehicles and more than $33,000 in cash when they searched his car lot, a warehouse and home in 2012, following undercover drug purchases made by the police.
Veljac wrote in a Feb. 1 opinion that Potts had the required legal notice to attend the hearing on the possible forfeit of his property, which Potts had countered.
The court also did not agree with Potts’ stance that Superior Court hadn’t addressed his claims that Longview police lacked probable cause to search his business or that a forfeiture hearing was not held for his business. Veljac wrote Potts did not provide enough documentation to rule whether his bank accounts were seized illegally.
