Jun.29, 2010

State troopers arrested a Dumas man for transporting almost $25,000 in cash on Texas Highway 136 Friday evening, then later found 175 pounds of marijuana in his home, the Texas Department of Public Safety said Monday.

Fabian Najera Uribe, 39, was a passenger in a 2003 Ford pickup driven by Elias Pando III, of Oklahoma City, when troopers pulled over the vehicle allegedly for a registration violation about 10:20 p.m. Friday two miles north of Borger. They were towing a trailer that carried a second pickup, DPS said.

Pando granted a trooper consent to search the vehicles, DPS said. The trooper found $24,860 in the bed of the towed pickup, the DPS said. Pando and Uribe were booked into the Hutchinson County jail on charges of money laundering. The two were arraigned and their bonds set at $7,500.

The subsequent investigation led troopers to Uribe's home. When investigators knocked on the door about 3:15 a.m. Saturday, 25-year-old Adrian R. Natividad-Sinaloa of Dumas answered, DPS said. On the floor, in view of the troopers, were four large bundles of marijuana, according to DPS. Troopers searched the home and allegedly found 175 pounds of marijuana, valued at $56,875.

Natividad-Sinaloa was arrested on a charge of possession of marijuana and booked into the Moore County jail. His bond was set at $75,000.

All three men remained in jail Monday.