But when Lucas brought the money to the Otsego County jail in a brown paper bag, sheriff’s deputies seized the cash without releasing his brother. They told him the money was the subject of a drug investigation.

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Lucas’ brother eventually pleaded guilty to a felony marijuana possession charge. But even with the case over, Lucas couldn’t get his money back. The sheriff’s office had already used a federal law to force him to forfeit the money to the government.

Investigators cited the fact that their drug-sniffing dog picked up the scent of marijuana on the cash, and Lucas’ admission that $10,000 of it had come from his brother’s co-defendant.

The federal civil asset forfeiture law allows local police to get up to 80 percent of money or property seized, with the rest going to the federal government for their role in the investigations and for administering the program.

Lucas’ case was among 117 in the 32-county Northern District of New York over the past five years in which the federal government used the law to seize $43 million in assets without having to charge the owners with a crime.

The Justice Department announced last month that it was shutting down the program, at least temporarily, under which the seized assets are shared among the police agencies involved in investigations. Federal officials cited budget constraints.

New York state seized more assets per capita under the civil asset forfeiture law than all but one other state in 2014. Police have been criticized for abusing the law to get quick access to money that they spend on new equipment, training and other expenses. They’re not allowed to use the money to pay salaries.

A Syracuse lawyer who specializes in fighting civil asset forfeitures says prosecutors in the Northern District of New York use the law fairly.

The bail seizure in Otsego County was an exception, according to Nicholas Lucas’ lawyer, Wayne Smith.

"A law-abiding citizen posts bail and they seize it? I mean, it’s outrageous," Smith said. "In a case where a brother bails out a brother under the facts of this case, it not only doesn’t pass the laugh test – it pisses you off a little because it could happen to anybody."

Nicholas Lucas took the case to court, but U.S. District Judge Gary Sharpe ruled he didn’t have standing to get the money back.

Smith appealed, and the case was argued in January. In unheard-of turnaround time, the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned the lower court’s ruling the day after the lawyers argued the case in court.

"They apparently felt strongly about what was done here," Smith said.

After that, federal prosecutors dropped the case and returned the money to Nicholas Lucas. The police had held onto it for nearly four years.

The prosecutors cited a new policy issued in January 2014 from then-Attorney General Eric Holder that was designed to combat the growing criticism that the civil asset forfeiture law was being abused by police across the country.

"Because of the change of policy, we decided it would not be a case we would take, so we gave the money back," said Assistant U.S. Attorney Tamara Thomson, who handles civil asset forfeiture cases in Syracuse.

Otsego County Sheriff Richard Devlin declined to comment.