# People Who Were Wronged Terribly And Had To Pay (Financially) For It **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 1, 2016, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-were-wronged-terribly-and-had-to-pay-financially-for-it/761498 "2016-08-01T21:13:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2016, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-were-wronged-terribly-and-had-to-pay-financially-for-it/761498/1 "2016-08-01T21:13:47Z")
Or, “People Who Had Salt Rubbed In Their Wounds, Then Got Billed For The Salt.” I’m going to try my hand at writing a Cracked article, and I have the idea to write about people who went through what the old saying hints at. Here in this thread, I’m just looking for suggestions - I’ll do the research and write the article. So far I have two ideas: 1. [Baby Bou Bou](http://www.fox5atlanta.com/news/98040278-story): Toddler was sleeping in his crib when a Haversham County (Georgia) SWAT team executed a no-knock drug raid. A flash-bang grenade was thrown into his crib; it detonated and blew his chest and face apart. The police and the county steadfastly refused to pay even a dime toward his medical bills, which reached into the millions. Family had to go to court to get money out of them. 2. Just about anybody who’s ever had their home searched by the cops, warrant or not: Cops have been known to tear homes and businesses apart, looking for drugs or whatever. In some jurisdictions, the homeowner is on the hook for cleanup whether evidence was found or not. Any other ideas? ---
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2016, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-were-wronged-terribly-and-had-to-pay-financially-for-it/761498/2 "2016-08-01T21:34:04Z")
There have been a few cases where 1. Police believed a suspect to be hiding contraband in a part of their anatomy. 2. Suspect was taken by force to a medical facility, where an invasive search was done against the suspect’s will. 3. Suspect was then billed by the medical facility for the procedure. Generally, the suspect has been able to recover quite a bit from the police and the doctors in question, both because it’s a big medical ethics violation to perform an invasive search by force and against the will of the patient when there’s no medical rationale for doing so, and because there’s a perfectly peaceful alternative, which is to lock the suspect up and make them poop in a bucket until whatever you think they might be hiding has passed. Here’s [an article about one such case](http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2013/11/05/man-seeks-millions-after-nm-police-force-colonoscopy-in-drug-search). ---
**Author:** ![Edward\_The\_Head](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ce73a5/32.png) [@Edward\_The\_Head](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Edward_The_Head)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2016, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-were-wronged-terribly-and-had-to-pay-financially-for-it/761498/3 "2016-08-01T22:58:04Z")
What about [Richard Jewell](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Jewell)? The guy who was wrongly blamed for the 1996 Olympic bombing. Not sure if he really had to pay financially for it, but he was put through a lot of shit. ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2016, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-were-wronged-terribly-and-had-to-pay-financially-for-it/761498/4 "2016-08-01T23:43:00Z")
Raymond Donovan > **[Raymond J. Donovan](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raymond_J._Donovan)** > > Raymond James Donovan (August 31, 1930 – June 2, 2021) was an American business executive and politician. He served as U.S. Secretary of Labor under President Ronald Reagan from 1981 to 1985. He resigned after being the first serving member of the Cabinet of the United States to be indicted, but was ultimately acquitted in 1987. > Donovan was born in Bayonne, New Jersey, on August 31, 1930. He was the seventh of twelve children of David and Eleanor Donovan, both of whom died by the time he wa... His legal bills were ferocious > [@](#): > > Reagan appointed Donovan the Secretary of Labor on February 4, 1981, and he served in this office until March 15, 1985. Under his secretaryship, he reduced the department’s staff and budget, granted regulatory relief to businesses through changes in Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA) enforcement practices, revised the Davis-Bacon rules, modified Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) rules, created new industrial home work rules, and revised the federal compliance regulations.[citation needed] > > In a highly publicized 1987 case,[1] Donovan and six other defendants were indicted by a Bronx County, New York, grand jury for larceny and fraud in connection with a project to construct a new line for the New York City Subway, through a scheme involving a Genovese crime family associate and a minority-owned subcontractor.[2] Schiavone Construction was obligated to subcontract part of the work to a minority-owned enterprise. The essence of the charge was that because the minority owned firm (Jo-Pel Contracting and Trucking Corp) leased equipment from Schiavone, that it was not truly independent of Schiavone.[citation needed] > > On May 25, 1987, Donovan (and all of the other defendants) were acquitted, after which Donovan was famously quoted as asking, “Which office do I go to get my reputation back?” ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2016, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-were-wronged-terribly-and-had-to-pay-financially-for-it/761498/5 "2016-08-01T23:55:56Z")
[McMartin preschool trial](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McMartin_preschool_trial). Their entire existence was imploded. > [@](#): > > On March 22, 1984, Virginia McMartin, Peggy McMartin Buckey, Ray Buckey, Ray’s sister Peggy Ann Buckey and teachers Mary Ann Jackson, Betty Raidor, and Babette Spitler were charged with 115 counts of child abuse, later expanded to 321 counts of child abuse involving 48 children.[1] In the 20 months of preliminary hearings, the prosecution, led by attorney Lael Rubin, presented their theory of sexual abuse. The children’s testimony during the preliminary hearings was inconsistent.[24] Michelle Smith and Lawrence Pazder, co-authors of the now-discredited Satanic ritual abuse autobiography Michelle Remembers, met with the parents and children involved in the trial,[25] and were believed by the initial prosecutor Glenn Stevens to have influenced the children’s testimony.[26] In 1986, a new district attorney called the evidence “incredibly weak,” and dropped all charges against Virginia McMartin, Peggy Ann Buckey, Mary Ann Jackson, Betty Raidor and Babette Spitler. Peggy McMartin Buckey and Ray Buckey remained in custody awaiting trial; Peggy McMartin’s bail had been set at $1 million and Ray Buckey had been denied bail.[9] > > In 1989, Peggy Anne Buckey’s appeal to have her teaching credentials re-instated after their suspension was granted. The judge ruled that there was no credible evidence or corroboration to lead to the license being suspended, and that a review of the videotaped interviews with McMartin children “reveal[ed] a pronounced absence of any evidence implicating [Peggy Ann] in any wrongdoing and…raises additional doubts of credibility with respect to the children interviewed or with respect to the value of CII interviewing techniques themselves.” The following day the credentialling board of Sacramento endorsed the ruling and restored Buckey’s right to teach.[27] > [@](#): > > The media overwhelmingly focused on the two jurors who voted guilty at the expense of those who believed Buckey was not guilty.[29] Buckey was retried later on six of the 13 counts, which produced another hung jury. The prosecution then gave up trying to obtain a conviction, and the case was closed with all charges against Ray Buckey dismissed. He had been jailed for five years without ever being convicted of any wrongdoing. > [@](#): > > The trial lasted seven years and cost $15 million,[33] the longest and most expensive criminal case in the history of the United States legal system, and ultimately resulted in no convictions.[1][3][21] The McMartin preschool was closed and the building was dismantled; several of the accused have since died. In 2005, one of the children (as an adult) retracted the allegations of abuse.[16][34] ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2016, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-were-wronged-terribly-and-had-to-pay-financially-for-it/761498/6 "2016-08-02T23:06:50Z")
The classic one would be Kristallnacht in Nazi Germany, Nov 9, 1938. Nazis burned over 100 synagouges in Germany and smashec thousands of Jewish-owned businesses, in retaliation for the killing of a German embassy secretary in Paris, France. The Jewish community as a whole was ‘fined’ $400 million for the damage done to their own churches & businesses. Also, they were prohibited from filing insurance claims, and were not permitted to re-open the businesses. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2016, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-were-wronged-terribly-and-had-to-pay-financially-for-it/761498/7 "2016-08-03T00:44:36Z")
Another that’s not an individual but a collective: To receive diplomatic recognition of its independence in the early 1800’s, the nation of Haiti was forced to pay reparations to France for the loss and damage of French property _including the “value” of its own population’s liberation from slavery_, at what is understood by historians to have been a wildly inflated estimate. To cover the schedule of payments, being cash short, they in turn had to get credit from France itself on terms that made the cost of repayment compound in a vicious cycle, that took into the 20th century to be finally done with. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2016, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-were-wronged-terribly-and-had-to-pay-financially-for-it/761498/8 "2016-08-03T13:46:36Z")
> [@astro](#): > > [McMartin preschool trial](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McMartin_preschool_trial). Their entire existence was imploded. Also [Kelly Michaels](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wee_Care_Nursery_School_abuse_trial) and the Wee Care Nursery School. For other cases, there’s a wiki [Day Care Sex Abuse Hysteria](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Day-care_sex-abuse_hysteria). ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2016, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-were-wronged-terribly-and-had-to-pay-financially-for-it/761498/9 "2016-08-03T14:06:15Z")
[Billy Dale](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_House_travel_office_controversy) was the head of the White House travel office. The Clintons, including HRC, wanted to get rid of him, so they pushed the FBI to investigate and he was indicted for embezzlement. The jury acquitted in less than two hours, but the legal fees ruined him. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2016, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-were-wronged-terribly-and-had-to-pay-financially-for-it/761498/10 "2016-08-03T14:11:11Z")
Some people would argue O J Simpson. I wouldn’t. ---
**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2016, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-were-wronged-terribly-and-had-to-pay-financially-for-it/761498/11 "2016-08-03T17:06:48Z")
> [@HeyHomie](#): > > I’m going to try my hand at writing a Cracked article, and I have the idea to write about people who went through what the old saying hints at. Here in this thread, I’m just looking for suggestions - I’ll do the research and write the article. Have you written before? Is it true the editors create the headline, so sometimes it doesn’t exactly match what you wrote? And please please PLEASE, since its in a list form, ensure that the #1 item is actually the worst or most outrageous of the list. Too many times have I read a list where the most shocking or whatever isn’t the last item. That bothers me to no end ---
**Author:** ![edwards\_beard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7bcc69/32.png) [@edwards\_beard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/edwards_beard)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2016, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-were-wronged-terribly-and-had-to-pay-financially-for-it/761498/12 "2016-08-03T17:12:56Z")
> [@YogSothoth](#): > > Have you written before? Is it true the editors create the headline, so sometimes it doesn’t exactly match what you wrote? > > And please please PLEASE, since its in a list form, ensure that the #1 item is actually the worst or most outrageous of the list. Too many times have I read a list where the most shocking or whatever isn’t the last item. That bothers me to no end Are you trying to claim you were wronged? ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2016, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-were-wronged-terribly-and-had-to-pay-financially-for-it/761498/13 "2016-08-03T17:24:25Z")
There have been a number of cases of police with a search warrant misreading the warrant and going to the wrong address-- either getting the number wrong, or doing something like going to N Main St, instead of S Main St, or Main St, instead of Main Dr. They then force their way into the home, damaging the door, toss the house, occasionally firing on the owner if he happens to have a gun and gets it, thinking he is being robbed, and not realizing it’s the police. If you Google “Police search wrong address,” you’ll get any number of cases. I leave you to pick the most egregious. Also, in Indiana, you will have your property forfeited to the police if you are caught dealing drugs. However, some people have had homes and cars seized on the suspicion of dealing and the charges were dismissed. I remember one story where the guy was arrested as part of a sting on people who bought stuff that COULD be used to grow pot indoors. This guy was growing tomatoes in his basement, so he was buying lights, and a certain fertilizer. He lost his house. People in this situation have to sue to get their homes and cars back. Sometimes they’ve been sold already, and so they can only sue for the value of the property. In other words, having charges dismissed does not automatically result in the return of forfeited property. Again, there are lots of cases, and I leave it to you to pick the most egregious. ---
**Author:** ![Dale\_Sams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/779978/32.png) [@Dale\_Sams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dale_Sams)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2016, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-were-wronged-terribly-and-had-to-pay-financially-for-it/761498/14 "2016-08-03T17:40:42Z")
[Woman detained, searched, probed, billed.](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/03/06/border-cavity-search_n_4907225.html) [Second case.](http://thefreethoughtproject.com/border-patrol-kidnaps-teen-girl-rape-sodomize-search-non-existent-drugs/) ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2016, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-were-wronged-terribly-and-had-to-pay-financially-for-it/761498/15 "2016-08-03T18:07:37Z")
> [@Edward\_The\_Head](#): > > What about [Richard Jewell](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Jewell)? The guy who was wrongly blamed for the 1996 Olympic bombing. Not sure if he really had to pay financially for it, but he was put through a lot of shit. In the end, [Jewell received financial settlements](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Jewell#Libel_cases) from a number of entities whom he accused of defaming him. Most of the amounts are undisclosed, but one was for $500K. So I don’t think he fits in this thread; He was surely wronged, but then the wrongdoers paid him. ---
**Author:** ![Waltzes\_with\_Cacti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/90ced4/32.png) [@Waltzes\_with\_Cacti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Waltzes_with_Cacti)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2016, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-were-wronged-terribly-and-had-to-pay-financially-for-it/761498/16 "2016-08-03T18:08:39Z")
Adding to the tales of preschool witchhunts already mentioned here, I suggest a real witchhunt, namely, the one that took place in Salem, Massachusetts in 1692. 19 people were hanged and one was pressed to death. The families of all of the victims were billed for the prisoners’ board and lodging in the jail. There were also several people who were accused but had not been brought to trial before the hysteria collapsed. They, too, were billed for their jail confinement. Because the jailers refused to let them free until their bills had been settled, several of them languished in cells for years after the trials even though their innocence was undoubted. ---
**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2016, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-were-wronged-terribly-and-had-to-pay-financially-for-it/761498/17 "2016-08-03T18:12:28Z")
> [@edwards\_beard](#): > > Are you trying to claim you were wronged? I demand retribution! :mad: ---
**Author:** ![Dale\_Sams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/779978/32.png) [@Dale\_Sams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dale_Sams)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2016, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-were-wronged-terribly-and-had-to-pay-financially-for-it/761498/18 "2016-08-03T18:32:30Z")
On the subject of warrantless ass searches by the border patrol…I was trying to find out when they were allowed to execute searches without a hint of probable cause. Including now electronic devices. But “Obama and the border patrol” doesnt exactly return any hits of him expanding their powers. ---
**Author:** ![Whiskey\_Dickens](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/9fc348/32.png) [@Whiskey\_Dickens](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whiskey_Dickens)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2016, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-were-wronged-terribly-and-had-to-pay-financially-for-it/761498/19 "2016-08-03T19:25:37Z")
> [@HeyHomie](#): > > Or, “People Who Had Salt Rubbed In Their Wounds, Then Got Billed For The Salt.” > > 1. [Baby Bou Bou](http://www.fox5atlanta.com/news/98040278-story): Toddler was sleeping in his crib when a Haversham County (Georgia) SWAT team executed a no-knock drug raid. A flash-bang grenade was thrown into his crib; it detonated and blew his chest and face apart. The police and the county steadfastly refused to pay even a dime toward his medical bills, which reached into the millions. Family had to go to court to get money out of them. The linked article indicates the family has $3.6 million coming to them. The only specific example provided of someone getting “Salt Rubbed In Their Wounds, Then [Getting] Billed For The Salt” ends with a massive payment to the woundee. 😕 ---
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2016, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-were-wronged-terribly-and-had-to-pay-financially-for-it/761498/20 "2016-08-03T20:40:14Z")
> [@Whiskey\_Dickens](#): > > The linked article indicates the family has $3.6 million coming to them. The only specific example provided of someone getting “Salt Rubbed In Their Wounds, Then [Getting] Billed For The Salt” ends with a massive payment to the woundee. 😕 That’s because at the time I couldn’t think of any examples where the wronged individuals weren’t compensated (eventually). [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-were-wronged-terribly-and-had-to-pay-financially-for-it/761498.md?page=2)