Tim Cahill was returning from a trip to Italy and didn't realize his daughter had brought along peaches to eat in flight so he didn't declare them. During a random search they were discovered and he and his family were treated like criminals. He didn't tell the agents that he worked for the state:
State Treasurer Timothy P. Cahill and his family, returning from an Italian vacation last month, were pulled aside and detained by customs agents at Logan International Airport after one of his four daughters was caught with contraband - three peaches.(via)
[...]
"At first it seemed routine, but then it became nonroutine. It was something so seemingly minor, yet the tone from the customs agent was seemingly major. We were in shock. They made us sit and took our passports. It felt like we were being interrogated and found guilty without any process, no explanation, no rundown of our rights.
"They just said, 'You have to pay a $300 fine.' I was threatened by another agent that if I didn't pay the fine, I would have to spend the night in jail," he said. Cahill said he was not told that if he paid the fine, he would waive any right to appeal.
It would have been easy to assess the situation and determine that his daughter didn't tell her dad that she had fruit. She might not even have realized that she wasn't allowed to bring fruit into the country. I'm sure this happens a lot.
When we went to Disney World this summer, I explained to my daughters that they couldn't bring liquid on the plane. Standing in the security line for the return flight Samantha remembers that she had a little bottle of shampoo and conditioner that her grandma had given her. Good thing she realized she had it before her carry on was screened or we probably would have been searched.
