ARS 13-4315: Allocation of forfeited property

A. Any property, including all interests in property, forfeited to the state under this title shall be transferred as requested by the attorney for the state to the seizing agency or to the agency or political subdivision employing the attorney for the state, which may do any of the following:

1. Sell, lease, lend or transfer the property to any local or state government entity or agency or political subdivision, any law enforcement agency or prosecutorial agency or any federal law enforcement agency that operates within this state for official federal, state or political subdivision use within this state, with expenses for keeping and transferring such property to be paid by the recipient. Property may not be allocated for official use if the fair market value of the property substantially exceeds the agency’s probable cost of purchasing other property equally suited for the intended official use. Property that is allocated for official use may not be assigned for use by any person who supervised or exercised discretion in its forfeiture unless the use is approved in writing by the head of the agency.

2. Sell forfeited property by public or otherwise commercially reasonable sale with expenses of keeping and selling the property and the amount of all valid interests established by claimants paid out of the proceeds of the sale with the balance paid into the anti-racketeering revolving fund of the state or of the county in which the political subdivision seizing the property or prosecuting the action is located. A sale of forfeited property may not be made to any employee of the seizing agency, any person who participated in the forfeiture, any employee of a contractor selling the property on behalf of the seizing agency or any member of the immediate family of any of these employees or persons.

3. Destroy or use for investigative purposes any illegal or controlled substances or other contraband at any time more than twenty days after seizure, on written approval of the attorney for the state, preserving only such material as may be necessary for evidence.

4. Sell, use or destroy all raw materials, products and equipment of any kind used or intended for use in manufacturing, compounding or processing a controlled substance.

5. Compromise and pay claims against property forfeited pursuant to any provision of this section.

6. Make any other disposition of forfeited property authorized by law for the disposition of property of the state, government entity, agency or political subdivision.

B. Notwithstanding subsection A of this section or any other law to the contrary:

1. If the property forfeited is money, and a law enforcement agency can specifically identify monies as being from its investigative funds or as being exchanged for property from its investigative property, the monies shall be remitted to the investigative fund. If there are additional forfeited monies or monies tendered on satisfaction by an interest holder that cannot be specifically identified, the court shall order the monies returned to each law enforcement agency that makes a showing of costs or expenses that it incurred in connection with the investigation and prosecution of the matter and shall order all excess monies remaining after such returns deposited in the anti-racketeering revolving fund of this state or of the county in which the political subdivision seizing the monies or prosecuting the action is located, established pursuant to section 13-2314.01 or 13-2314.03.

2. If the property declared forfeited is an interest in a vehicle, the court shall order it forfeited to the local, state or other law enforcement agency seizing the vehicle for forfeiture or to the seizing agency.

C. Monies in any anti-racketeering revolving fund established pursuant to this title may be used, in addition to any other lawful use, for:

1. The payment of any expenses necessary to seize, detain, appraise, inventory, protect, maintain, preserve the availability of, advertise or sell property that is subject to forfeiture and that is seized, detained or forfeited pursuant to this title or of any other necessary expenses incident to the seizure, detention, preservation or forfeiture of the property. The payments may include payments for contract services and payments to reimburse any federal, state or local agency for any expenditures made to perform the investigative, storage and maintenance functions associated with the property held by the seizing agency.

2. The payment of awards for information or assistance leading to a civil or criminal proceeding under this title.

3. The payment of compensation from forfeited property to injured persons as provided in section 13-4310, subsection P, paragraph 3.

D. Each attorney for the state shall submit a copy of each forfeiture judgment, including each order of forfeiture, to the Arizona criminal justice commission within sixty days after the forfeiture judgment becomes final or after the conclusion of appellate review, if any.