[update] Roped Into Our Neighbors' Search Warrant Because We Live In A Duplex. Police Seized Our Ipad Only Used For Art.

TL;DR—We have the iPad.

Original post: https://www.reddit.com/r/legaladvice/s/uEQvwNc3nl

Location: Still Minnesota.

Oh boy where to start? If you’re looking for a guide on how to get your shit back from the police, this ain’t gonna be it.

Within a week of the iPad being taken I:

-spent over 12 collective hours at the courthouse talking to about 20 different people

-had a meeting with our city council member

-went viral on both Reddit and TikTok

-had to take our disabled cat to the ER because she ate something a cop tracked in on their shoe (she’s fine—shoutout U of MN)

-called and spoke to everyone from the judge that signed the warrant to the officer who took the iPad to three different records offices

-was told by the officer who took the iPad that since I was causing an issue, they were going to keep it longer

-requested all the police reports documents. Had to do this multiple times because I kept getting rejected.

-emailed about 15 other people

-connected with Communities United Against Police Brutality (CUAPB)

-got a lawyer

-filed case with the Office of Police Conduct Review (OPCR)

The week after that, our downstairs neighbors decided this entire event was my fault and started a smear campaign against me online. Then they started texting me about how I was a disrespectful, animal abusing wife beater who uses autism as an excuse to be racist.

Good people of [r/LegalAdvice](r/LegalAdvice), I have no fucking idea how or why or when they came to that conclusion. Anyone who knows me knows that the vibes in our household are very much NOT that. I mean, I am autistic, that much is true.

I’m being flippant about it now but it was incredibly stressful while it was occurring. Our neighbor is a really influential person in a specific community that we are a part of so it could have been very bad for us. Luckily the fallout wasn’t terrible.

After all that...

…literally nothing happened!

Still to this day the MPD did not file any of their paperwork about the warrant, nobody replied to our council member or lawyer or CUAPB, nothing. I did get a redacted copy of the police report for them coming to the house. That was it.

In August this had to take a back seat because the school year started and I went back to work. Ngl, I also took a break from annoying the cops so much because I was worried they would retaliate. If they opened some sort of case again me or started giving me legal trouble some other way, I would be at risk of losing my license/clearances/etc. that allow me to work with children and thus my entire livelihood.

I tried to continue to reach out every month for an update.

In January, the OPCR emailed us! A whole six months later! We did an intake interview with a neutral lawyer. Still have heard nothing else.

We also got a little bit…sidetracked by everything going on in the city and trying to protect students/neighbors. I think the sound of a whistle will forever be etched into my nervous system. And I had my school breaks eaten up by manuscript deadlines—nothing like doing line and copy editing 10 hours a day for two weeks straight to make your brain melt.

In the meantime, my wife used my shitty half-broken Apple Pencil and the shitty half-broken iPad I found in the attic that we both forgot we had. Gen 7 base I think? With 32GB of memory so it was full almost immediately and her quality took a big hit with the resolution drop. That revenue stream dried up a lot unfortunately. We’ll get it back.

And then in March, our downstairs neighbors got their stuff returned. Supposedly. After our neighbors got their stuff, I had my wife call the officer who took the iPad, figuring a new voice might be helpful as I’m sure mine is now automatically associated with annoyance.

Five days later (today) he calls back. Y’all ain’t ready for this.

APPARENTLY, the iPad was released from evidence.

In OCTOBER.

But they “didn’t have a way to contact” my wife. You know, despite having our address, driver licence numbers, both phone numbers, and a signed evidence receipt. They also “accidently” had my wife’s name badly misspelled, again despite EVERYTHING they had with our names on it.

This is also despite me, and the lawyer, and our CM, and CUAPB reaching out to the MPD between October and now. No “hey your shit is ready,” no “we’re done with this garbage,” nothing.

It’s not like they are supposed to only hold released evidence for 60 days or anything.

So we go to the evidence unit. The officer w/couldn’t even tell my wife the address of the damn place because fuck him. Granted, I already knew where it was, but still bro. I fully prepare my wife for the fact that I am going to sit there until they give it to us or I get dragged out because I am fucking over this.

Shockingly, the evidence unit went off without a hitch. iPad in hand, custom engraved Apple Pencil still there, no screen cracks. And they finally gave us the case number! Amazing! Only took 10 months!

We get celebratory pizza at Boludo and go home. I unplug the wifi and boot up the iPad—I don’t want it connected to our network until I make sure it’s not fucking wiretapped or something. Open Screen Time to discover they never even touched the damn thing.

What-fucking-ever.

40 minutes of iOS updates and 25 minutes of app updates later and we’re back in business.

It’s been real, LegalAdvice. Thanks for coming along for the ride.