Authorities find $70K in cash on passenger traveling through Charlotte Douglas

CHARLOTTE — It’s no big deal to carry a few hundred dollars in your wallet on a commercial flight, but stuffing your clothes full of stacks of cash might raise a red flag.

That’s something one passenger learned first-hand, according to court documents obtained by Channel 9 Crime Reporter Hunter Sáenz. The federal complaint was recently unsealed -- earlier this year, thousands of dollars were found stuffed in the passenger’s sleeves and pockets inside their suitcase.

As Channel 9 has learned, this kind of thing happens more often than you may think. While holiday travelers are making their way through the Charlotte Douglas International Airport, cold hard cash may be funneling through it as well.

According to the most recent data provided by the Department of Homeland Security and compiled by the Institute for Justice, about $2 billion was seized in America’s airports between the years 2000 and 2016. At Charlotte Douglas alone, roughly $55 million has been seized by authorities.

Feds say it happened again in June. Agents reported finding more than $70,000 in stacks of cash inside a suitcase. All of it was hidden inside clothes, stuffed into sleeves and pockets, according to court documents.

The cash ended up being caught by a Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department K-9, Cali. The dog sniffed out the money, and officers started asking questions.

Court documents say the man who owned the bag spoke with a DHS officer and claimed the money belonged to his cousin, who he was visiting in Myrtle Beach. The man claimed he was traveling to Los Angeles to see family members, and the money was being transported for “family issues.”

Authorities at the airport didn’t buy the man’s story, and they later found that his travel history was “consistent with that of a drug or money courier,” the federal documents say.

No criminal charges have been filed against the passenger yet, as the investigation continues.

After the money was seized, the case took another odd turn.

According to the federal complaint, a woman from Ohio contacted authorities saying that all of the money was hers. But investigators say that woman has filed for bankruptcy at least five times and is well known by authorities. They believe her claim is fraudulent.

There’s no law limiting the amount of cash you can carry on a domestic flight, but international flights into or out of the United States have a limit of $10,000 and require a FinCEM Form 105 to be filed.

Despite the lack of clarity in the law, Action 9 found that police can seize your money without telling you why. The best thing to do if you have to fly with a large amount of money is keep receipts of your withdrawals, and a bank account statement with your deposits showing the origin of the money.

The data provided by the DHS shows that in 2016, the most recent year with available data, the airport with the most cash seized was Washington Dulles, with $40,879,700 found in one year.

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