SALT LAKE CITY — A suitcase full cash — nearly a quarter million dollars’ worth — lay hidden in a West Jordan storage unit until police dogs learning to sniff out drugs found it during a training exercise.

Federal authorities suspect it’s dirty money, and though the owners of the suitcase weren’t charged with any crime, the government is looking to keep the stash.

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In March 2011, West Jordan police officer Tom Smith arranged to take several newly certified dogs to King Arthur Self Storage for a “real-world” experience on the last day of a training class. Buster reacted to unit 83-1 as did four other dogs. Smith also let his dog Kuffs and another dog named Starsky run for a “free sniff.” Both came back to the same unit.
West Jordan police officer Tom Smith arranged to take several newly certified dogs to King Arthur Self Storage for a “real-world” experience on the last day of a training class. Buster reacted to unit 83-1 as did four other dogs.

Smith learned through the King Arthur manager that Cynthia Long Gray was the renter and Daniel Gray was listed as a secondary contact. Cynthia Gray has a criminal history for drug possession, fraud, forgery and retail theft, according to court documents. Daniel Gray’s past crimes include drug possession, aggravated assault and weapons offenses.

After obtaining a search warrant, West Jordan police searched the storage unit. Buster went to a large blue suitcase. It smelled like marijuana inside and contained a black duffel bag stuffed with cash, according to court documents.

The cash — $100 and $20 bills divided into small bundles with rubber bands — totaled $230,863.

Contending marijuana odor and the denominations and packaging of the bills are consistent with drug trafficking, federal authorities seized the money.

Cynthia Gray acknowledged ownership of the suitcase but told police she doesn’t sell drugs nor were there drugs in the storage unit. “She claimed the money came from a disability settlement for $10,000,” court documents state.

In October 2011, Daniel Gray filed a handwritten claim for the $220,863 — mailed to the court from a South Carolina prison located on a street named Goldmine Highway. He inexplicably asked for $10,000 less than was found.

The claim, in part, reads: “They was no violation with this money in it was not used in no exchange for drugs or to buy drugs … They is nothing illegal about the large sum of cash in if rubber bands is illegal in the smell of marijuana is a crime … They was no narcotics in the suitcase our in the storage unit 83-1 so I have a right to a court hearing and a attorney.”

“Our burden is to prove that the money was involved in a drug transaction,” said spokeswoman Melodie Rydalch. Prosecutors don’t necessarily have to prove who was involved in the crime, she added.

Cynthia Gray and Daniel Gray were not charged with a crime in connection with the cash. According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, they don’t have to be in order for the government to go after the money.

“Our burden is to prove that the money was involved in a drug transaction,” said spokeswoman Melodie Rydalch. Prosecutors don’t necessarily have to prove who was involved in the crime, she added.

Federal authorities posted a forfeiture notice on a government website and sent notices to the Grays as well as Salt Lake attorney Scott C. Williams, who apparently represented them. Williams did not return a telephone call seeking comment.

In March, U.S. District Judge Clark Waddoups dismissed Daniel Gray’s claim because he missed deadlines and failed to comply with federal rules to contest the seizure.

On Wednesday, Waddoups signed an order forfeiting the money to the U.S. government and barring anyone from claiming it. But a day later, he vacated that order without explanation, leaving it unclear as to where the cash will ultimately end up.

A Burnsville man is facing felony drug charges after authorities say they intercepted a package addressed to him that contained more than 6 pounds of marijuana.

Lam Ngoc Tran-Jardin, 23, is charged with three felonies: first-degree drug sales, which carries a maximum penalty of 30 years in prison and a $1 million fine; attempted first-degree drug sales, which carries a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison and a $1 million fine; and fifth-degree drug possession, which has a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $10,000 fine.

http://liarcatchers.com/drugdogsweeps.html

Tran-Jardin remains in the Dakota County Jail on a $60,000 bond. An omnibus hearing in his case is scheduled May 22 in Dakota County District Court in Hastings.

According to the criminal complaint, Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport police were inspecting inbound freight on May 1 when an officer noticed a suspicious package.

Police brought in a drug-sniffing dog to check the package, and the dog alerted officers to the suspect package. The recipient on the label was Lam Tran, with an address on 123rd Street East in Burnsville.

Police obtained a search warrant for the box and found six packages containing 6.5 pounds of marijuana, along with a vacuum-sealed container containing 6.34 ounces of methamphetamine and a cell phone, which officers believed was used so Tran-Jardin could track the package using the phone’s GPS capabilities, according to the complaint.

The previous weekend, airport police had intercepted a similar package addressed to Lam Tran at an address in West St. Paul; that package contained 4 pounds of marijuana, the complaint charges.

Agents with the Dakota County Drug Task Force resealed the package after replacing most of the drugs with books and other items. The resealed package was then delivered to Tran-Jardin by an undercover agent dressed as an employee of a parcel company.

The undercover agent knocked on Tran-Jardin’s door and rang the doorbell just before 2:30 p.m. May 1. When nobody answered, he left the package the front door.

About two minutes later, a man later identified as Tran-Jardin opened the door, picked up the package and brought it inside.

Just before 5:30 p.m., drug task force agents executed a search warrant at Tran-Jardin’s home. Tran-Jardin refused to answer any questions, though he did confirm his name. Agents found the package delivered earlier on the floor in the home’s front entryway, unopened.

During execution of the search warrant, agents seized a plastic bag containing a green leafy substance, two glass bubble pipes containing residue, a bag with a white crystal-like substance and $2,757 in cash, which was in Tran-Jardin’s pocket, according to the complaint.

Agents also spoke to the home’s owner, who said he had rented the basement bedroom to Tran-Jardin a week earlier and had little contact with him.