Man arrested with $153,000 at Nashville airport

[Tod]

Jan 14 (Reuters) - A man who used $20,000 in cash to charter a private plane from Nashville to California was arrested on money laundering charges after an airport police dog smelled narcotics on $153,000 stuffed into his suitcase, according to a police affidavit released Tuesday.
Conor Guckian, 33, was arrested in Nashville on Monday after airport police were alerted to a "suspicious individual" using the large sum of cash to charter the plane to California, according to the affidavit.
A K-9 unit detected the drug odor on the bundles of money in Guckian's bag, the document said.
The officer then waited for Guckian to arrive to board the plane, where Guckian told officers he was transporting the large sum in order to buy gold in California, according to the affidavit.
He consented to a second search and the second dog detected the narcotic odor on the cash, which was divided into 32 bundles secured with rubber bands, according to the affidavit.
"The manner in which the U.S. currency was wrapped is consistent with that of drug proceeds," the affidavit says. [note to self: If lottery is won, do not, repeat do not, wrap bundles of cash with rubber bands]

Authorities said Guckian told police he was chartering the plane because he thought it would be a safer way to transport the cash, although he had flown commercial jets to Nashville from New York and Chicago. It was unclear where Guckian lives.
He told police he came to Nashville to see a friend, but later said he was only there because the flights were cheaper, police said.
Guckian also told police he structured his bank accounts to show balances under $10,000 to avoid government detection and said he was previously arrested in New York for possession for resale of cocaine.
He remained in jail Tuesday in lieu of $10,000 bond. (Reporting by Tim Ghianni in Nashville; Editing by Karen Brooks and Alden Bentley)

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/01/14/usa-crime-nashville-airport-idUSL2N0KO1P920140114


I wonder what else of his they will confiscate?

 

[Spikender]

Well, that's a lot of cash money.

I have a feeling that's all going to disappear pretty soon, if it hasn't already. You know, it got lost in the midst of all that paperwork...

 

[donnay]

Because drug deals are made with FRNs I am sure there are traces of drugs on all our money too. SMH

 

[ClydeCoulter]

Ummmmm, he's on a 10,000 bond but they have 153,000 of his money? Can he sign for them to just put up 10k of his own that they have for the bond?

 

[oyarde]

He should have called me , I could have saved him some money and trouble . From New York he could have just rented a car , drove to Winchester , In to Silvertowne.Bought whatever he wanted , drove home .

 

[PaulConventionWV]

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/01/14/usa-crime-nashville-airport-idUSL2N0KO1P920140114


I wonder what else of his they will confiscate?

It looks like he may have actually been a drug dealer. That doesn't make it right to arrest him or take his money, but he's not exactly the posterchild for the injustice of the law. Not to mention, he flat out admitted to structuring his bank account to avoid government detection, something that is already illegal and is considered an essential part of a money laundering scheme.

If you don't want to be suspected of money laundering, it is a good idea not to admit that you're laundering your money.

 

[PaulConventionWV]

Ummmmm, he's on a 10,000 bond but they have 153,000 of his money? Can he sign for them to just put up 10k of his own that they have for the bond?

Nope. He has to come up with $10k MORE because the $153k they already stole from him wasn't enough...

 

[Suzanimal]

Because drug deals are made with FRNs I am sure there are traces of drugs on all our money too. SMH

You make a good point. I read an article awhile back about some tests they did on library books - all of them tested positive for cocaine.

 

[Cleaner44]

If the dogs smelled narcotics on his money, it sounds like he didn't launder it enough. Someone should have let him in on an old secret...



Lessons for victim of state robbery:

• Don't talk to cops
• Don't admit to structuring bank accounts
• Don't use rubber bands on bundles
• Don't forget the Calgon

 

[oyarde]

If the dogs smelled narcotics on his money, it sounds like he didn't launder it enough. Someone should have let him in on an old secret...



Lessons for victim of state robbery:

• Don't talk to cops
• Don't admit to structuring bank accounts
• Don't use rubber bands on bundles
• Don't forget the Calgon

Always launder the cash locally.Do not fly with it .

 

[phill4paul]

In 2010, a team of researchers at the University of California, Davis set out to test the reliability of drug- and bomb-sniffing dogs.
The team assembled 18 police dogs and their handlers and gave them a routine task: go through a room and sniff out the drugs and explosives.
But there was a twist. The room was clean. No drugs, no explosives.

In order to pass the test, the handlers and their dogs had to go through the room and detect nothing.

But of 144 runs, that happened only 21 times, for a failure rate of 85 percent.

Although drug-sniffing dogs are supposed to find drugs on their own, the researchers concluded that they were influenced by their handlers, and that's what led to such a high failure rate

http://www.reviewjournal.com/news/crime-courts/legal-challenge-questions-reliability-police-dogs

 

[Victor Grey]

Ideology put aside and stepping back to the real world where ideals don't matter, the man should of been more careful.

If he made enough to charter private planes and regularly find a need to, he should of went legit a long time ago.

Good lesson for drug dealers and tax dodgers in general here; if you're driving around in your hummer, or you're flying around in private planes and got stacks of paper notes laying around and other things like that, somebody's eventually going to notice. They pay people to find you. Those actions are reserved for the elite, who can hire lobbyists.

It's just yelling out loud, "Hey state. Look at all this cool stuff for you to steal. I bet you can't figure out a justification to do it. Don't try, and nanny nanny booboo."

 

[puppetmaster]

Ideology put aside and stepping back to the real world where ideals don't matter, the man should of been more careful.

If he made enough to charter private planes and regularly find a need to, he should of went legit a long time ago.

Good lesson for drug dealers and tax dodgers in general here; if you're driving around in your hummer, or you're flying around in private planes and got stacks of paper notes laying around and other things like that, somebody's eventually going to notice. They pay people to find you. Those actions are reserved for the elite, who can hire lobbyists.

It's just yelling out loud, "Hey state. Look at all this cool stuff for you to steal. I bet you can't figure out a justification to do it. Don't try, and nanny nanny booboo."

the guy probably saw it on TV......MTV....hey I wanna git me a GS to fly to LA

 

[libertywanter]

I have read before in several different articles that almost all $100 bills have a detectable level of cocaine residue on them. So basically I guess it is illegal to have any $100 bills in your pocket and the degree of the offense is by how many you have. I guess the government has finally made it illegal to have cash. What a surprise huh?

 

[DFF]

"The bigger the bust, the better the boost!"

 

[Anti Federalist]

Do. Not. Talk. To. Cops.

This goes here: