https://www.thetelegraph.com/news/article/Authorities-charge-man-with-money-laundering-12929512.php
EDWARDSVILLE
— Authorities have charged a California man with money laundering after state
police found more than $263,000 in a car he was driving.
Charged
with two counts of money laundering is Daniel J. Hovland, 36, of Hayward, Calif.
He is accused of transporting criminally derived property and carrying the
property in bundles with rubber bands to avoid a transaction requirement. Bail
was set at $200,000.
The
charge came after a state trooper stopped a 2018 Toyota Camry, driven by
Hovland April 26 on Interstate 70 in Collinsville. The details of the case
became public Friday.
He
was stopped for improper lane use, and told an officer he was traveling from
“out east” back to California. However, he was unable to specify exactly from
where “out east” he came.
Police
brought in a drug dog who alerted on the Camry. Hovland told police he had
$6,000 in his position. Police searched the car and found a suitcase in the
trunk containing a large amount of bundled cash. Officers also found seven cell
phones in the car.
Hovland
declined to be interviewed without an attorney present. The Madison County
State’s Attorney’s Office filed suit under a state law that allows law
enforcement authorities to obtain assets believed used in the drug trade.
The
suit claims Hovland was unable to explain the money and that he did not have a
legitimate source of income for that amount of money. The suit claims the cell
phones were intended for use in concealing the proceeds from some form of
unlawful activity.
Reach
reporter Sanford Schmidt at 618-208-6449.