'04 cash seizure tied to drug ring
By Aaron Sanderford, Omaha World Herald Staff Writer
Originally published by The Omaha World Herald Thursday, October 29, 2009
Used with permission
Federal authorities in central California used a 2004 cash discovery by the Douglas County Sheriff's Office to strengthen a multistate investigation of a cocaine distribution conspiracy.
A California man at the center of the investigation pleaded guilty Wednesday to charges in a federal drug conspiracy involving 433 pounds of cocaine with a street value of about $2.85 million, according to a U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency press release. He is to be sentenced in January. Authorities suspect he and others conspired to smuggle cocaine from Mexico to California, then to the East Coast.
In April 2004, Douglas County Sgt. Ed Van Buren pulled over a semitrailer with California plates on suspicion of equipment and moving violations. A police dog helped investigators find and confiscate more than $631,000 in suspected drug proceeds, authorities said. The money was vacuum- and heat-sealed in plastic bags in a hidden compartment of the truck, Van Buren said.
The two drivers were let go while authorities continued their investigation, but the driver and a friend have since been charged in connection with the California conspiracy to distribute.
In 2005, authorities in California began a separate investigation that led to the drug conspiracy case, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Karen Escobar of Fresno, Calif. They learned about the Douglas County stop as part of that investigation's effort to piece together a history in the drug conspiracy case against the California man, she said.
“We learned about the stop after,” Escobar said. “It was important in terms of establishing a drug quantity for the overall conspiracy. That $631,000-plus equated to about 32 kilos of cocaine sold in Philadelphia.”
At least part of the drug money seized in Douglas County can be used to pay for drug dogs and enforcement equipment, Van Buren said, as well as for training.