{"id":417746,"date":"2015-11-12T14:41:52","date_gmt":"2015-11-12T20:41:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ktbb.com\/post\/?p=417746"},"modified":"2015-11-13T14:41:02","modified_gmt":"2015-11-13T20:41:02","slug":"etx-authorities-seize-1-1-million-in-suspected-drug-money","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/?p=417746","title":{"rendered":"Authorities Seize $1.15 Million in Suspected Drug Money"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.ktbb.com\/post\/wp-content\/media\/2015\/11\/MONEYSEIZED_1447357018051_5546848_ver1.0.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.ktbb.com\/post\/wp-content\/media\/2015\/11\/MONEYSEIZED_1447357018051_5546848_ver1.0-200x113.jpg\" alt=\"MONEYSEIZED_1447357018051_5546848_ver1.0\" width=\"200\" height=\"113\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-417749\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/wp-content\/media\/2015\/11\/MONEYSEIZED_1447357018051_5546848_ver1.0-200x113.jpg 200w, https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/wp-content\/media\/2015\/11\/MONEYSEIZED_1447357018051_5546848_ver1.0-450x253.jpg 450w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px\" \/><\/a>NACOGDOCHES &#8212; The Nacogdoches County Sheriff&#8217;s Office announced Thursday the seizure of more than $1 million in suspected drug money. KETK reports deputies stopped an SUV October 10 for speeding on Loop 224 at Old Tyler Road South.  Officials say the driver and lone occupant was nervous and gave conflicting statements about his trip. During the stop, deputies became suspicious of criminal activity.  Deputies searched the SUV and discovered about $1.1 million tucked away in three duffel bags in the cargo area. The sheriff&#8217;s office says the suspect denied the money belonged to him but confirmed the money was from drug cartel activity. <!--more--> <\/p>\n<p>Deputies detained the suspect for further questioning about the money, and he was taken to the sheriff\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s office.  Investigators counted the money and say it totaled $1,150,650.  Ricardo Avalos-Victor, 30, of Georgia, was arrested and charged with money laundering and regulation of money services businesses. Bond was set at $2,205,000.  A member of the DA\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Office worked with law enforcement to prepare paperwork necessary to file a civil forfeiture action against the money.  The U.S. Attorney\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Office has also expressed an interest in adopting the criminal charges against the defendant.<\/p>\n<p>Officials say concern for the physical safety of the defendant\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s family prompted a request from law enforcement to seal the civil forfeiture case from public access.  An order sealing the case was signed, allowing the defendant\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s family time to take what were termed appropriate measures to ensure their safety. The order expired on Wednesday.<\/p>\n<p>The district attorney\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Office worked with an attorney representing the defendant over a couple of weeks. The defendant maintained his position the seized money was not his, so an agreed judgment was ultimately signed.  The defendant released any claim to the money and agreed it was contraband, so the money was awarded to the sheriff\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s and DA&#8217;s offices.  Officials say the money will be used to further strengthen law enforcement activities, equipment and prosecution in the county.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>NACOGDOCHES &#8212; The Nacogdoches County Sheriff&#8217;s Office announced Thursday the seizure of more than $1 million in suspected drug money. KETK reports deputies stopped an SUV October 10 for speeding on Loop 224 at Old Tyler Road South. Officials say the driver and lone occupant was nervous and gave conflicting statements about his trip. During &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/?p=417746\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Authorities Seize $1.15 Million in Suspected Drug Money<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":417749,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[177],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-417746","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news-archive-archives"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-21 13:57:34","action":"change-status","newStatus":"trash","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/417746","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=417746"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/417746\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":417751,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/417746\/revisions\/417751"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/417749"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=417746"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=417746"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=417746"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}