SEATTLE — Fast money is one thing but going too fast with it is another, as a Canadian motorist learned when he was stopped for speeding and nearly $280,000 was found in his car and confiscated.
The 35-year-old man’s 2003 Honda Accord was pulled over before daybreak Friday morning on northbound I-5 near Northgate Mall after being clocked at 71 mph, 11 mph over the speed limit, Washington State Patrol trooper Jeffrey Merrill said.
The Delta, B.C., man produced a valid Canadian driver’s license but had a hard time saying where he was going and how long he had been in the state. The investigating trooper asked to search the car man’s Honda Accord for “any criminal activity” and the man agreed, Merrill said.
The trooper found two suitcases in the trunk, one containing $279,640 in U.S. currency, and the man gave an elaborate account of winning the money at casinos in Washington state, California and Nevada.
“He was super-vague and evasive,” Merrill said. “He admitted his own stories sounded ridiculous.”
When the man was unable to produce any receipts to back up his story, the trooper confiscated the cash, gave the man a warning about speeding and let him go.
Investigators from the State Patrol, King County prosecutor’s office and Immigrations and Customs Enforcement have been working to determine the source of the cash and whether it was obtained legally.
If the cash was from illegal drug sales or other crimes, charges against the man will be filed and a judge will be asked to order that the money be forfeited to the state, but if no wrongdoing is found it will be returned to the man, Merrill said.
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