By: A.J. Cook


Some flying U.S. Customs Service agents spotted a white Cessna 207 returning from Mexico on a route used by drug traffickers. They heard the Cessna pilot radio the ranch below that he was being followed and he was out of fuel.

The plane landed at Jerald Dickerson's ranch in New Cuyama Valley, Calif. The Customs officers spotted people running to cars and trucks and driving away. When authorities searched the plane and the ranch, they found $30,000 cash, night vision goggles, duffel bags stuffed with 90% pure cocaine, chemicals for manufacturing methamphetamines and an arsenal of weapons, including a Mac 10 machine gun and hand grenades.

Conveniently, the officers found Dickerson's estranged wife, Cheryl, at a nearby restaurant. She admitted her husband sold cocaine.

After Dickerson was caught, he pled guilty to cocaine charges. This was only the beginning of his trouble.

The Internal Revenue Service, foe of the lawful and lawless alike, doesn't limit its searches for unreported income to what its computer can turn up. Its agents also comb through local newspapers. That's where agent Edward T. Finley read about the cocaine bust. He immediately began to investigate and discovered the Dickersons hadn't filed tax returns for four years. As he learned more, the noose around the Dickersons' purse tightened.

Finley feared the couple wouldn't stick around to pay the taxes, so he made a jeopardy assessment. This means the IRS estimates the overdue taxes and starts seizing assets.

Finley first estimated how much the seized cocaine cost. He then assumed that Dickerson had to earn this amount from prior smuggling to have the money to pay for the new shipment.

The Dickersons went to court challenging Finley's assessment of the situation. They said it was unreasonable.

The judge disagreed saying, Finley was properly suspicious that their assets would disappear before the taxes were paid. Dickerson was a drug trafficker, and his wife recently had transferred title of her home to her mother-in-law. The court, however, said the agent miscalculated the cocaine value and reduced the income from $9 million to $7 million. If the couple felt this was still too high, the judge said, they should file for a refund after they filed their tax returns.

Once the judge ruled, the IRS again moved in to continue grabbing the couple's cash, house, four planes, real estate and 20 cars and trucks.

The Moral: Crime does pay - the IRS.