They mailed it in: State's a day late and $14,000 short after filing snafu

Dean Smoronk, inset, got some money for his defense fund after a ruling on Friday tossed a forfeiture claim on cash found at his Farmington home. (Virginia State Police photo)

It appears the state's effort to seize more than $14,000 in cash from the Farmington home of an alleged drug dealer was tossed out of court because someone forgot to get the forfeiture petition to the court on time.

State Police seized the cash on Feb. 3 after it was found during the execution of a search warrant at 979 Meaderboro Road, a residence owned by Dean V. Smoronk, whose longtime girlfriend and another woman were brutally stabbed to death there in January.

According to court documents police found $10,318 in cash in two separate pouches of a black carry-on bag in the basement and found another $3,828 in a red, white and black flower bag in the master bedroom.

They also found a huge cache of drug paraphernalia, including syringes, meth pipes, drug ledgers, records of drug sales and financial information and a large cache of suspected drugs.

However, it wasn't until April 3 that the forfeiture petition was mailed - not delivered - to the Strafford County Superior Courthouse in Dover, resulting in its being filed on April 5 when it was received around 5 p.m., a day after the 60-day time window for such a notice.

The specific RSA that dictates the time frame is (318-B:17b). It states, "The department of justice shall, within 60 days of the seizure, file a petition in the superior court having jurisdiction. If no such petition is filed within 60 days, the items of property interests seized shall be released or returned to the owners."

In a nine-page ruling authored by Strafford County Superior Court Judge Mark E. Howard that was handed down Thursday, he notes, "Smoronk (through his lawyer) argues that the State's petition is not timely and therefore the petition must be dismissed. The court agrees. The monies subject to the forfeiture claim were seized on February 3, 2017. The petition was signed and placed in the mail on April 3, 2017. While April 3, 2017, was within the 60-day deadline required under (the RSA), the petition was not received by the Clerk of Court in Strafford County Superior Court until April 5, 2017."

Howard later summarizes, "While by only one day, the petition was clearly filed outside the statutory filing period."

He also asserted that the court can entertain no wiggle room with such a deadline.

Of course, while the money will now be returned to Smoronk, the drugs and drug paraphernalia, much of it contraband, will not.

A call to the state Attorney Generals office for comment on the judge's ruling from The Rochester Voice was not returned on Friday.

Meanwhile, Smoronk, 55, was denied any reduction in bond earlier this month after his arrest on June 11 following a traffic stop on Interstate 95 in Virginia that yielded a huge cache of drugs. The car was stopped while speeding through a work zone, according to Virginia State Police.