Mississippi § 25-1-51 - Confiscated property: prohibited acquisition; disposition by sheriff; subsequent recovery.

§ 25-1-51. Confiscated property: prohibited acquisition; disposition by sheriff; subsequent recovery.

No law enforcement officer, conservation officer, or other person charged with the duty and responsibility of enforcing the statutory laws of this state or any municipality herein, whether employed full time or part time in such capacity, or any member of his or her household can knowingly own, acquire, bid upon, or otherwise participate as a purchaser or prospective purchaser, either directly or indirectly, at a sale concerning any real, personal, or mixed property which has been confiscated and is being sold, or has been sold, or is subject to being sold pursuant to the laws and statutes of this state. All officers seizing any property shall turn the same over to the sheriff of the county in which said property was seized. All real, personal, or mixed properties confiscated under authority of law and subject to sale as contraband properties shall be sold by the sheriff of the county in which said property was confiscated or is stored, after the sheriff shall first have given public notice by publication for not less than one (1) week in a newspaper published in said county or, if no newspaper is published in said county, said notice shall be published not less than one (1) time in a newspaper having general circulation in said county. The published notice shall contain a description of the property and other pertinent data which the sheriff may deem necessary and proper in compliance with this section. The cost of public notice shall be charged against and added to the cost of the property advertised and sold by virtue of said notice. The net proceeds of all such property sold shall be deposited in the county general fund within the manner provided by law. The sheriff shall keep a public record of all property seized, the disposition thereof, and the proceeds from the sale thereof. The failure of the sheriff to sell any property seized by him or turned over to him within ninety (90) days and any violation of the above paragraph by such prohibited person, or any other person acting for or in behalf of such prohibited person, shall be deemed to be a misdemeanor and shall be punishable by a fine of not less than One Hundred Dollars ($100.00) nor more than Five Hundred Dollars ($500.00), which fine shall be subject to collection from such prohibited person’s bondsmen if such prohibited person be under bond and fails to pay said assessed fine when it shall have become final and collectible. In addition thereto, upon a showing in an action begun not later than one (1) year from the date of the legal sale of the confiscated property that such prohibited person has knowingly acquired title to such confiscated property in violation of paragraph (1) hereof, the owner of such property at the time it was confiscated, or his or her heirs, legatees, administrator, or executor shall be immediately entitled to the return of such property; and the sum paid therefor by such prohibited person, or in his or her behalf, shall be forfeited. The sum so forfeited shall be applied in the same manner as it would be applied had the confiscated property been sold to or acquired by other than such prohibited person.