BRIEF: Illinois trooper seizes more than $1.5 million in cash during traffic stop 

BRIEF: Illinois trooper seizes more than 1.5 million in cash during traffic stop

Jan 31, 2013 (Menafn - St. Louis Post-Dispatch - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) --MADISON COUNTY -- An Illinois state trooper who stopped a car for improper lane use and having an illegal license plate cover seized more than 1.5 million in cash Saturday afternoon that officials presume is linked to drug trafficking.

The stop occurred about 3:30 p.m. on southbound Interstate 55-70, near Collinsville. Officials said a trooper's conversation with the driver aroused suspicion of criminal activity. The driver consented to a search of the white 2004 Volvo convertible, in which police discovered 27 vacuum-sealed plastic bags containing 1,589,860.

"Cash amounts this large are usually connected to illegal drug trafficking," the Illinois State Police District 11 commander, Captain Brad Parsons, said in an announcement this afternoon.

The car's driver, Carole Irene Galvez, 62, of Gila Bend, Ariz., was charged with money laundering and held in the Madison County Jail in Edwardsville in lieu of 500,000 bail.

State's Attorney Tom Gibbon's office said it will move to seize the cash, which could then be spent on law enforcement. Prosecutors said that if convicted, Galvez could face a prison term of four to 15 years.

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