Drug trafficker’s seized assets help police

Here’s a link to my full story at spokesman.com on how a seven-year-old drug federal trafficking case brought good news to law enforcement agencies in Idaho on Wednesday. That’s because all appeals and asset forfeiture proceedings in the case have been completed, so the Idaho State Police got a check for $456,446 and the Coeur d’Alene Police Department is getting $18,630 as its share.

Former Coeur d’Alene gold and coin dealer Robert Leon Mertens was convicted in 2004 on 11 federal charges, including selling cocaine, marijuana and heroin at locations including a Sagle flea market, and laundering the money through his Coeur d’Alene business, Northwest Coin and Jewelry.