11/5/2010 9:46:00 PM

http://prescottdailycourier.com/main.asp?SectionID=1&SubSectionID=1&ArticleID=87155

Yavapai County Sheriff's deputies arrested two men Tuesday on charges of money laundering after deputies found $215,000 in cash in three travel bags after stopping their van for speeding along U.S. 93 outside of Wickenburg.

At 2:45 p.m., a YCSO K-9 deputy made a traffic stop at milepost 188 on a 2005 Chrysler van with Arizona plates that had been speeding southbound on U.S. 93.

The driver, Stephen Brown, 29, and his front-seat passenger, Gregory Tracey, 40, both of New York, told the deputy the van belonged to a friend in Phoenix, said Dwight D'Evelyn, spokesman for the Yavapai County Sheriff's Office.

While speaking with Brown about the speeding violation, the deputy noticed that Brown seemed unusually nervous and couldn't answer basic questions about his home address, travel plans and destination. Both Brown and Tracey told the deputy they were driving from Las Vegas and heading to the Phoenix area.

When the deputy asked if there were any illegal drugs in the van, Brown told the deputy he had smoked marijuana last night, but said there were no drugs in the van, D'Evelyn said.

A Wickenburg police officer arrived to help the K-9 deputy, who obtained consent from both men to search the van.

While checking a suitcase in plain view, the deputy found several $100 bills hidden behind an inside liner. Lifting the liner further revealed a large stack of both $20 and $100 bills, D'Evelyn said.

When the deputy placed the suitcase outside the van, K-9 Tjando immediately alerted on the contents of the case, indicating an odor of narcotics, D'Evelyn said.

The deputy found large amounts of cash hidden behind liners and pockets inside two other suitcases in the van, and Tjando also alerted on those suitcases, D'Evelyn said.

An investigation determined the cash was connected to illicit drug transactions and, as a result, both Brown and Tracey were arrested for money laundering, D'Evelyn said.

The investigation continues into the source of the cash in the suitcases, D'Evelyn said.

Brown and Tracey told the deputy they did not know about the currency found in the suitcases.

Deputies booked both men into the Yavapai County Jail in Camp Verde where they remain in custody, D'Evelyn said.

The Yavapai County Sheriff's Office will request a seizure of these monies as part of the case adjudication.