The Philadelphia Inquirer reports that Daniel Ward Payne was traveling through Montana in a rental car when he was stopped by Trooper Tim Lytle for speeding. Court records say Payne was going 98 mph.
Trooper Lytle's suspicions were piqued when Payne's account of his cross-country trip seemed contrived. The Trooper later spotted a small amount of marijuana and drug paraphernalia in the car, after which Lytle secured permission from the rental car company to remove Payne's belongings from the vehicle.
Two backpacks and a locked plastic tool box were removed. Based on the information at hand, Lytle "suspected Payne was a drug courier," according to a transcript written by Justice John Warner.
Lytle contacted the Eastern Montana Drug Task Force, after which an agent secured a search warrant. A marijuana cigarette and two wrapped packages of cash were found inside the tool box.
Court records state that the officers "recognized this as a common way (drug) traffickers package cash that had been exposed to illegal drugs in order to prevent detection by drug-sniffing dogs." The cash was seized, and prosecutors later filed a petition of forfeiture, claiming the cash was illegal drug money.
