A Texas man was arrested after police discovered nearly $200,000 stashed inside several old toy boxes during a traffic stop, ABC affiliate KABB reports.
Emundo Rendon, 64, of McAllen, Texas, has been charged with money laundering between $150,000 and $300,000, a second-degree felony.
Rendon’s arrest took place after he was pulled over Tuesday afternoon for a traffic violation on I-10 westbound in Flatonia, a city located about 90 miles northeast of San Antonio and 290 miles north of McAllen.
After noticing “several criminal indicators,” deputies searched Rendon’s vehicle and found a bag containing three boxes of children’s toys. Believing the boxes were too heavy to be holding toys, police opened the packages to find vacuum-sealed bundles of cash that were consistent “to that of drug trafficking and money laundering organizations.”
“The boxes had an inconsistent weight for the toys that should have been in them,” Fayette County Sheriff Keith Korenek told the outlet. Law enforcement took the money to the bank, and it totaled to $199,000.
In a Facebook post, the Fayette County Sheriff Office revealed that it isn’t Rendon’s first time being charged with money laundering, as he was previously accused of smuggling over $3 million.
Rendon remains in custody at the Dan R. Beck Justice Center in Austin, TX.
