POLICE FIND $1 MILLION DURING TRAFFIC STOP

St. Louis County police seized more than $1 million in suspected drug
trafficking money in a weekend traffic stop on Interstate 44. The seizure
is the largest in St. Louis County's history and one of the largest in this
area, authorities said Wednesday.

Two patrol officers, James Hilderbrand and Todd Isermann, stopped a 1993
Ford Explorer about 9:51 p.m. for two moving traffic violations and because
one of the headlights wasn't working.

The vehicle was pulled over on westbound I-44 near the St. Louis County
line. I-44 is a major drug shipment route connecting Mexico and the
southwestern United States to the Northeast.

After talking with the driver, the officers became suspicious and asked if
they could search the vehicle. The driver allowed them to do so.
Hilderbrand checked the inside lining of the roof and found the money.

"There really wasn't much too it," said Hilderbrand, who has worked with
the department for six years. "Once the liner was pulled down, it exposed
everything."

Police found 38 bundles of money in vacuum-sealed bags, wrapped in masking
tape and connected with rope. The currency ranged from $5 to $100 bills.
Hilderbrand said drug traffickers often tie the bundles together so they
can remove the money all at once without damaging the roof liner.

Hilderbrand said the driver and passengers denied knowing anything about
the money or where it came from.

The driver and passengers, who were traveling from Chicago to cities in the
southwestern United States, were detained for about two hours and all
information about them was passed on to federal Drug Enforcement
Administration investigators. The vehicle was returned to the driver.

The DEA is now investigating the case, but no charges have been filed.

St. Louis County police will probably receive a major portion of the money
under U.S. forfeiture laws. St. Charles and St. Louis police also aided in
the investigation Friday night and could share in the forfeiture. The U.S.
Department of Justice will decide how to divide the money. Hilderbrand was
involved in the county's largest previous forfeiture of $179,000 about a
year ago.

"I was extremely happy and shocked when I found out how much money we
found," he said.

This weekend's incident was one of several large seizures in the area in
the past year.

In April, the Illinois State Police found $2.8 million, the largest highway
cash seizure in the department's history, during a traffic stop in April
along Interstate 57 near Effingham. They also found cocaine residue in the
vehicle during that stop.

Interstate 44 was also the site of another major seizure in July near
Springfield, Mo. Authorities had been told to watch for a suspicious
tractor-trailer at a particular weigh station. When they looked inside they
found $2.9 million.

Checked-by: Mike Gogulski