$400 missing as sheriff returns cash seized from Afroman during home raid
The raid appears to have come up empty, and Afroman is promising legal action.
ADAMS COUNTY, Ohio (WXIX) - The Adams County Sheriff’s Office on Tuesday returned thousands of dollars to a famous ’90s-era musician whose home they raided on suspicions of kidnapping and drug trafficking.
But counting off the bills, they came up hundreds of dollars short.
It’s the latest turn in a bizarre, months-long ordeal that began with the violent August raid of an Adams County home belonging to Joseph Foreman, who goes by “Afroman.”
Foreman produced hit songs including “Because I Got High” and “Colt 45.”
Sheriff’s deputies acted on a warrant claiming probable cause existed that drugs and drug paraphernalia would be found on Foreman’s property and that trafficking and kidnapping had taken place there.
“They come up here with AR-15, traumatize my kids, destroyed my property, kick in my door, rip up and destroy my camera system,” he said in August.
The suspicions turned out to be unfounded. The Adams County Prosecutor’s Office said the raid failed to turn up probative criminal evidence, according to attorney Anna Castellini. No charges were ever filed.
Among the items investigators confiscated during the search was $5,031 in cash, which they believed to be the proceeds of drug trafficking. Foreman said he made the money rapping, as some music venues pay in cash.
Regardless its provenance, the rapper expected to receive it all back Tuesday evening when he went to the sheriff’s office. He didn’t.
After multiple times counting the bills, which the sheriff’s office recorded along with FOX19, the total consistently came up $400 short.
The bags containing the cash were both sealed prior to the counting process.
Foreman says the missing cash is just icing on the cake. He says the raid and unfounded allegations have negatively impacted his life, including trouble booking shows at venues who cited the kidnapping suspicions contained in the warrant.
“I need all those clubs to see and hear those charges have been dropped,” he said.
Foreman previously threatened to sue the sheriff’s office because the deputies damaged his home and traumatized his children, who were home at the time. Now he says he will file a defamation suit, in part so the same thing doesn’t happen to someone else.
“Sometimes I have to talk myself to sleep because I wonder, what if they come back in here, poppin’ around and swinging around,” he said.
The sheriff says he will check into the missing money Wednesday morning.
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