More than $4,600 in cash seized by the Cochise County Sheriff’s Office (CCSO) during a 2019 traffic stop is one step closer to being returned to its lawful owner, thanks to a court ruling issued Wednesday.
CCSO investigators found $4,613 of currency inside a lunch box in a stolen vehicle occupied by Robert A. Sutton and Lindsy Petschauer on May 21, 2019. The cash was seized and placed in the sheriff’s office evidence room based on suspicions it was related to criminal activity.
Court records show the investigation never tied the money to any specific wrongdoing. But the cash remained in CCSO’s custody even after Sutton and Petschauer were convicted of auto theft and sent to prison.
Earlier this year, Kris Carlson of the Cochise County Attorney’s Office asked the courts for direction on who the money should be returned to, as Sutton and Petschauer each submitted written statements purporting to be the lawful owner of the cash.
“Given that there are two parties, each with an equal say and equal rights of management and control, the County cannot determine how to appropriate and distribute the Fund,” Carlson advised Judge John Kelliher, Jr.
Kelliher’s Aug. 30 ruling did not resolve the ownership dispute, only where the money should remain until the ownership is determine.
His order requires the sheriff’s office to hand over the cash to the Clerk of the Cochise County Superior Court. Once the transfer is done, the clerk will assign an arbitrator to determine if Sutton or Petschauer gets the money.
Petschauer has already filed a statement with Kelliher indicating she has documentation showing the money was the result of an April 2019 payment from her grandmother’s estate.
Sutton, on the other hand, contends information in the CCSO arrest report confirms he had begun selling personal assets to have cash available for a move to Mexico.
He also refers to a message purportedly sent by Petschauer to one of Sutton’s family members in December 2020 relinquishing all interest in the cash. Thet same message is referenced in an August 2021 claim Sutton filed against Cochise County in an attempt to have the money released to him.
County officials do not appear to have acted on Sutton’s claim until January 2023 when Carlson sought to have the courts handle the matter.
Once an arbitrator is assigned, a decision as to release of the funds to Sutton or Petschauer could be made by year end.
