U.S. files for $190,000 seized in I-40 traffic stop

The U.S. attorney’s office on Tuesday asked a federal judge to order $190,000 seized during a Jan. 15 traffic stop on Interstate 40 in Pope County surrendered to the federal government.

According to the forfeiture request, the seizure stemmed from Arkansas State Police Cpl. Christopher Goodman’s stop of a 2012 Chevrolet Equinox that was following another vehicle too closely near London.

As he approached the car, the trooper noticed “a faint odor of raw marijuana,” the document states. It says driver Josiah McDonald and passenger Jamie Mason both appeared nervous, and Mason told the trooper that they had been vacationing in Little Rock and were sightseeing.

Goodman asked for and received consent to search the vehicle, finding five large, vacuum-sealed bags of cash inside the lining of McDonald’s luggage, wrote Assistant U.S. Attorney Cameron McCree. The filing says McDonald admitted there was about $190,000 in cash in the vehicle, and the “only explanation for the money was that two or three years ago, he received $73,000 for a fishing trip.”

Police seized the money and took the pair to the Pope County sheriff ’s office for questioning.

McCree said the smell of marijuana and the manner in which the cash was packaged, “among other factors,” indicate that the cash constituted “drug money” and should be surrendered to the government.

The request is pending before Chief U.S. District Judge Brian Miller.

Meanwhile, a California attorney filed a notice of appearance Wednesday in another pending forfeiture case — this one in which the government seeks $431,830 in cash that Goodman seized from truck driver Luis Alberto Quezada in a September 2013 traffic stop on I-40 in Pope County.

The forfeiture complaint, filed May 5, states that Quezada’s rig was stopped near mile marker 75 for following another vehicle too closely and that Goodman noticed Quezada “appeared to be nervous.” The trooper then checked the driver’s logbook, finding a “suspicious entry,” and his suspicions were heightened when he detected a “strong odor of air freshener” inside the tractor, the petition states.

A search of the truck revealed 59 bundles of cash wrapped in black duct tape and hidden behind speakers on both sides of the cab, although Quezada told the trooper he had only “a few hundred dollars” in the vehicle, the complaint notes. It said the trooper also found two boxes of fabric softener, an “entire row” of air fresheners, $2,000 cash in Quezada’s pocket and “an assortment of expensive items such as designer watches and clothes.”

Quezada denied ownership and knowledge of the currency, the forfeiture complaint states.

In an answer filed Aug. 7, Mario Corado, the owner of the company for which Quezada worked, said the money belongs to him and should be returned. He denied the forfeiture request’s allegation that it constituted “drug money,” saying the trip was part of a “legal enterprise.”