Originally Posted by
farwest101
I don't care how that "looks" to anyone. Maybe Federal prosecutors think nothing of invading one's privacy over baseless "suspicions", but I don't. Hell, I can go buy an assault weapon no questions asked, but I can't buy a MO at a USPS with cameras on me without being a "suspicious" person? F me.
Well, it will start with a Federal Agent who investigates and perhaps sees a bunch of SARS and perhaps they look like you are doing something illegal so they contact the USPS and ask what happened.
The teller, who does not want to get in trouble for telling you about the SAR, skews the telling of the story a little to put him/herself in a better light. The agent reviews the video and it confirms what the teller said as there is no audio. So the agent decides to do a knock&talk. Rather than following my sage, non-legal, advice you get an attitude and mouth off to the agent.
The agent then writes up the memorandum of interview indicating that you said that you didn't want to waste time filling out their stupid bureaucratic paperwork that is none of their business anyway. The agent provides this to the Federal Prosecutor who has an open-and-shut case of structuring and sends out a target letter or files a criminal complaint and has you arrested.
If you are arrested and appear after the last docket of the day you are held overnight until your Initial Appearance the following morning. If you work someplace that involves finance or money, the agents will likely go talk to your employer to see if there is any other evidence of financial misdeeds. They will explain the charges in the complaint to your employer and make clear that these are just allegations and that you are presumed to be innocent. However, your employer will probably just let you go rather than take the risk.
Then you cough up tens of thousands of dollars for a lawyer and maybe come up with a deal or go to trial. Perhaps the charges even get dropped but I wouldn't count on it.
Obviously, this is a sort of worst-case scenario. However, the more hostile and uncooperative you are the more likely it (or some variant) is to come about.
Stubtify has provided some excellent advice. Not least of which is that you are playing in a realm that is under close scrutiny. Attracting attention to yourself is a bad idea. Acting like a jerk is a horrible idea. There is discretion built into our legal/justice system and it is in your best interests to act in a way that convinces people to use theirs in your favor.