Since no one stepped forward to claim the $726,340 that was found in a 2016 Toyota Tacoma in July, the federal government gets the cash.
Brian S. Miller, a U.S. District judge for the Eastern District of Arkansas, recently ruled that “no party filed a claim or answer or otherwise defended the cases, and the time to do so has expired.”
That’s also good news for the Benton Police Department. Agencies that seize money usually end up getting to keep a portion of it.
If you recall, the Benton Police Department noticed the truck with a broken rear taillight on Interstate 30 on July 9, according to the civil forfeiture complaint that was filed in December in U.S. District Court in Little Rock.
A police officer stopped the Toyota with three people in it and quizzed them about where they were headed. Curiously, their stories didn’t match up, according to the lawsuit filed by Assistant U.S. Attorney Cameron McCree.
The officer then asked to look around the vehicle, and the occupants agreed. On the back seat was a black duffel bag with 29 vacuum- and heat-sealed bundles of cash that totaled nearly a three-quarters of a million dollars, the filing said.
Rocko, the police department’s drug-sniffing hound, indicated the money was connected to drugs, the filing said. But the three people in the truck all disclaimed ownership of the cash, and no one else came forward to claim it but Uncle Sam.
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