Let me see your grillz

From a report in The Seattle Times:

In their quest to seize the ill-gotten gains of suspected drug dealers, federal prosecutors have targeted cash, jewelry, cars and even homes.

You can now add gold-capped teeth to the list.

A defense expert and the attorneys for two men facing federal drug charges in Tacoma are crying foul over efforts by federal prosecutors and officials with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to have the gold-capped teeth — commonly called “grills” or “grillz” — removed from their clients’ mouths.

According to court documents and attorneys involved in the case, Flenard T. Neal Jr. and Donald Jamar Lewis — who were both charged in U.S. District Court with several counts of drug and weapon violations in January — on Tuesday were taken from the Federal Detention Center in SeaTac to the U.S. Marshal’s Office in Tacoma. There they were told the government had a warrant to seize the grills from their mouths and that they were being taken to a dentist in Seattle for removal.

Both made hasty calls to their attorneys, but were loaded into a vehicle and on their way to Seattle when their attorneys were able to persude a judge to stop the seizure, according to Neal’s federal public defender, Miriam Schwartz.

Grills, made popular by rappers such as Nelly, are customized teeth caps that are typically made of precious metals and jewels. The cost for a full set can run from hundreds to thousands of dollars. Some styles of grills can be snapped onto the teeth somewhat like an orthodontic retainer, while others are permanently bonded to the teeth.

Neal and Lewis had permanently bonded grills, their attorneys said. The attorneys for both men declined to describe their clients’ grills.

Nelly had a number one hit for a couple of weeks in January with the single “Grillz.”

Smile for me daddy
Let me see your grill
Rob a jewelry store
And tell ’em make me a grill