https://hoodline.com/2024/04/san-antonio-couple-charged-with-money-laundering-drug-possession-after-i-10-traffic-stop-unveils-cash-cocaine/

Highway to Handcuffs: A routine traffic stop on Interstate 10 took a swift turn into a felony arrest for a San Antonio couple, following a Fayette County Sheriff's deputy's discovery of drugs and a stash of cash suspected to be tied to money laundering, as reported on Tuesday.

It all went down near the county line, where Drug Interdiction Investigator David Smith, flagged down the a 2019 Buick Encore for a traffic violation just as the clock neared eleven in the morning.

Sensing trouble as he neared the vehicle, Smith didn't waste a beat before he got the nod to search the car, which soon led him to unearth a cocktail of illegal substances—starting with cocaine tucked behind the glove box, heroin glopped with the darkness of tar stashed under a seat, and a meth pipe. The deputy's hunt didn't end there, as he uncovered seven bundles of bills totaling $67,695, wrapped in saran and strapped with rubber bands in the driver's rear panel, which no one claimed.

On the hook now are Tracy Vega, aged 50, and Edward Clinton Smith, 53. The duo was escorted to the Dan R. Beck Justice Center, where they were charged with money laundering and felony possession of a controlled substance. Clinton Smith's confession to a two-gram heroin fix prior to the traffic mishap landed him in Smithville Ascension Seton Hospital for care, as FOX San Antonio reported.