U.S. Attorney Makes Decision Regarding Motel Caswell Appeal

The saga of Russ Caswell and the Federal Government has finally reached a conclusion.

Last week, U.S. Attorney Carmen Ortiz announced that she would not appeal a Federal Judge's ruling in January, denying the government's claim for seizing the Motel Caswell because of what it claimed was an ongoing pattern of drug activity.

Federal prosecutors had argued that Caswell, who lives next door to the motel, must have kn own about the drug activity going on at his business and did nothing to stop it.

Lawyers for the Institute for Justice, which took the case pro bono, argued that the government and Tewksbury Police had conspired to try and seize the property, then sell it off and split the proceeds.