§ 4.1-340. Notice to Commissioner of Department of Motor Vehicles; proceedings by attorney for the Commonwealt...
A. The procedure for notification of the Commissioner of the Department of Motor Vehicles of the seizure of a vehicle pursuant to § 4.1-339 shall be in accordance with § 19.2-375.
B. Within sixty days after receiving notice of the seizure of a motor vehicle pursuant to § 4.1-339, the attorney for the Commonwealth shall file, in the name of the Commonwealth, an information against the seized property in the clerk's office of the circuit court of the county or city wherein the seizure was made.
Such information shall be in the form and contain those provisions required by §§ 19.2-370 and 19.2-371.
The attorney for the Commonwealth shall notify, in accordance with § 19.2-376, the owner, purchaser, lienor, and all other persons who are in any manner then indebted or liable for the purchase price of the property.
C. In lieu of filing an information, the attorney for the Commonwealth may, upon payment of costs incident to the custody of the seized property, return the seized property to the owner or lienor, without requiring that such owner or lienor file bond as provided in § 4.1-341, if he believes that (i) such owner was the actual bona fide owner of the conveyance or vehicle at the time of the seizure, that he was ignorant of such illegal use thereof, and that such illegal use was without his connivance or consent or (ii) such lienor was ignorant of the fact that the conveyance or vehicle was being used for illegal purposes when it was seized, that such illegal use was without such lienor's connivance or consent, that he held a bona fide lien on such property and had perfected the lien in the manner prescribed by law prior to seizure, and that the lien is equal to or more than the value of the conveyance or vehicle.
In the event the conveyance or vehicle was sold to a bona fide purchaser subsequent to the arrest but prior to seizure in order to avoid the provisions of § 4.1-339, the Commonwealth shall have a right of action against the seller for the proceeds of the sale.
(Code 1950, § 4-56; 1954, c. 504; 1968, c. 763; 1971, Ex. Sess., c. 155; 1973, c. 16; 1978, cc. 434, 436; 1981, c. 365; 1983, c. 271; 1984, c. 52; 1993, c. 866.)
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