Can I get in trouble if my van was used in criminal activity without my knowledge? 36 Answers as of January 24, 2012

If the police wants you to "answer a couple of questions" you are likely a target of an investigation. They are seeking for you to admit to a criminal act and they may not believe you if you attempt to answer their questions. Good time to hire an attorney to assist you in getting your van returned to you.

If they tell you they will authorize the release of the vehicle, then they probably will. The information they seek may be all that is necessary for them to release it to you, however you may want to discuss this with an attorney just to protect yourself in the event they try to tie you into the criminal activity.

You should seek legal counsel. If authorities are not returning your van, they may suspect your complicit in the offense in some way. Never assume that the driver of the van did not elect to point to you as a con-conspirator.

You should never talk to the police without an attorney. Retain a lawyer and he will get your van back and make sure that you are not charged as an accomplice. You cannot deal with the matter yourself without risking being charged with a felony.

You should hire a lawyer to go with you to talk to police but in concept, if you truly did not know what they were doing and there is no reason that you should have questioned their use of the van, then you should be able to get the van back and not have any problems. But, if you go without a lawyer, be ready to have your words twisted.

You probably should not speak to them without an attorney. If they tie you to illegal activity, even if you just knew about it but didn't participate, then the van is at risk.

"They want to ask me a couple of questions." Red flag. Even if you have no reason to fear prosecution, do not speak with the Police without the presence of your attorney. Even if you are prepared to tell the Police everything they need to know about the friend who were using your van, you still are going to be suspect in the eyes of the Police.

You have the right to remain silent. So don't talk to the police. You can file a lawsuit to get your van back. Just be mindful that there is a statute of limitations.

In order to avoid being charged as a conspirator, accomplice, accessory before the fact, etc. hire counsel a.s.a.p. to take with you to be interviewed before the impound charges get too high and so you need not have to file a Petition for Return of Personalty.

You can get your impound back if you are an innocent owner. But you need to go through the process.

Your van was used during the commission of a criminal offense. Under Illinois Statute, the authorities have a right to confiscate it. If you want it back, you should co-operate with the authorities. They probably want to ask you questions about your participation in the crime. If you had no knowledge that the person or people were going to use it for a criminal activity, you will probably have no problems. It might not be a bad idea to retain counsel to accompany you to the questioning session, to insure your Constitutional rights are not violated.

Not if you didn't do anything. Be as helpful as you can with the police and hopefully they don't forfeit your vehicle.

Be very careful about talking to anyone. Your words can come back to haunt you. You need to hire an attorney to deal with this problem.

Given that set of circumstances, if you had no knowledge of what the person was doing, you shouldn't face any criminal charges, nor be responsible for any storage or impound fees.

If you sincerely did not know that your van was being used for criminal activity, then you should be perfectly fine. However, since I do not know anything more than what you have told me, I strongly suggest that you speak with an attorney, just to be safe.

Is your question why can't they release your van and save you impound fees, or why haven't you already gone down to answer their questions, and save yourself impound fees? Which is your question? If you loaned a friend a van, and did not know anything, why haven't you already gone down? As for can you get in trouble? The answer is yes. Depending on the answers that you give, you might be arrested. However, if you are worried about impound fees, you probably do not intend to retain an attorney. I'm curious do you think is the police officer's fault, your friend's fault or your fault for choosign such a poor friend. Good luck.

They won't release it now because they are not satisfied that you were not involved. I can't say whether or not you could get in trouble by talking to the police because I don't know what it is you would be saying. Therefore, I suggest that you hire a lawyer and go over the details with the lawyer first.

You can always get in trouble. It is very easy for the prosecutor to charge a person with a crime. It will be much more difficult for the prosecution to prove a case. You can only get in trouble if you knowingly facilitated in the illegal conduct. The police will not release your van because it is evidence that may need to be used in a prosecution.

In my opinion, you should not talk with a police officer who says they want you "ask you a few questions" unless you have an attorney present representing you (that you have consulted ahead of time and discussed the situation/risks thoroughly). Even if you do not feel you did anything wrong and were not aware of the illegal activity, the police may be trying to make a case that you did know and get statements from you that sound incriminating or possibly falsify or take statements out of context from you implicating you. Your concern right now is getting your van out of impound, but if they implicate you, you will have a much more serious concern: criminal charges against you. Do you think the risk of criminal charges is worth it? Why can't they release your van? Maybe they can, maybe they are lying to you to try to get you to talk to them and implicate yourself (or others). If the van is being held as evidence, they will not be able to release it even after talking to youthey will have to wait until the criminal case is over. If that is the case, the police may be just saying they can release your van as a "ploy" to get you to talk to them (this is currently allowed under the law according to current court rulings.

Save fees? The government and especially the cops are not really concerned about you. Answer a couple of questions to get the van back? A ploy to allow them to get you to say something incriminating. Do not talk to cops without attorney and you do not have to do that at their place.

They can hold the van for evidence for a period of time. They are probably using this to get you to talk. You do not have to talk to the police. You can demand the van be returned. There is no guarantee that you will not be charged. It is even possible that you can be convicted. But, you cannot commit a crime if you did not know the van was going to be used this way.

Yea, you could possibly get in trouble as an accomplice. As to the van, usually they hold vehicles as evidence and you have to get a release from the district attorneys office, which isn't easy. If there is further delay and you need to hire an attorney to assist you contact us immediately.

You may choose to speak directly to the officer(s). It is possible that they will completely agree with you, and that you will get your vehicle back free with no problems. However... It is possible that your statements to the police could implicate you into having sufficient knowledge to be held responsible for what happened. Also, vehicles can be confiscated if used for illegal activity, and even an uninvolved owner can have difficulties. Discuss all facts with your own attorney.

First of all, do not talk to them or answer any questions, because if you do you will get in more trouble. They are trying to fool you to get you to incriminate yourself. The truth is they will never release your van until the criminal case in court (against whoever was selling the merchandise) is concluded, because at this stage it is evidence. You should always exercise your right to remain silent, because whatever you say will be twisted around and used against you later in court. Cops are experts at doing this.

Without your knowledge, you have a much stronger defense. If, however, one of the guys who was arrested claims you did have knowledge, and the cops and prosecutor chooses to believe him, then you might be charged as a co-conspirator.