TRAFFIC STOPS NET $173,000, DRUG ARRESTS

Routine traffic stops in recent weeks on Interstate 95 put thousands of
dollars from suspected drug-runners in a Dorchester County kitty, police said.

Since July 25, the Dorchester County Sheriff's division of the Interstate
Criminal Enforcement Unit has confiscated $173,000, 15 pounds of cocaine
and 3 pounds of marijuana.

Two men were arrested and a third was released, said Dorchester County
Sheriff Ray Nash. All the men are from Florida.

The first traffic stop was made July 25. Phillip S. Lee, 38, of Weston,
Fla., was stopped for tailgating. A deputy found $173,000 in bundled bills
stashed in a spare tire.

Nash said it is illegal to transport more than $10,000 cash across state
lines without documentation. "Most of the time, they say they don't know
how the money got there, that it doesn't belong to them, and they give it
to us," he said.

Lee told deputies that Jamaicans gave him the money to buy machinery, but
he didn't know their names or addresses. Deputies confiscated the cash and
car, Lee was given a receipt and sent on his way.

The money will be divided between the offices of the Charleston County
sheriff and the Dorchester County solicitor and sheriff, Nash said, to
cover costs of drug-related law enforcement efforts.

Jose Reyes, 44, of Hialeah, Fla., was stopped Aug. 9 for tailgating. A
drug-sniffing dog led deputies to 15.4 pounds of cocaine under a seat.

Reyes was charged with trafficking cocaine and is now in federal custody.

Deputies stopped 27-year-old Mervin Solomon of Tallahassee, Fla., on Aug.
12 for speeding. This time, police saw a bag of marijuana in the back seat.
A dog alerted authorities to 3 pounds of marijuana in the trunk.

Solomon was charged with possession of marijuana with intent to distribute.