El Paso police investigators believe money found last month in a West Side condominium is evidence of drug transactions conducted by the condo’s owner, according to an affidavit filed Tuesday in district court.
On Feb. 5, maintenance workers and police officers found bundles of money in a bedroom closet wall inside the condo. They also discovered a garbage bag, boxes and two large safes filled with cash, the affidavit states.
The affidavit was filed because prosecutors believe the money is “contraband” and had been used or was intended to be used in the commission of a felony.
So far, investigators have been able to count $982,110 in cash, which has been deposited at a local bank.
An additional $179,335 in cash was counted but not accepted by the bank because the cash was “damaged, moldy or mutilated.” Most of the cash consisted of $20 bills.
That cash has been sent to the Engraving and Printing Corp. in Washington, D.C. for reclamation, the affidavit states.
Some of the cash was found coated with talcum powder and vacuum-sealed in plastic bags. The tactic is used “to throw off drug-sniffing dogs,” the affidavit states.
Maintenance workers had been at the apartment after noticing a large amount of water flowing out the front door of the condo at 6201 Escondido.
The owner was identified as Jose Chavez Benitez, also known as Gerardo Morales Avalos, 37, who bought the condo in 1997. His whereabouts is unknown.
According to the affidavit,
the workers didn’t have access to the condo and called police to gain access.
Once inside, an officer and maintenance workers noticed that the condo appeared to be “not lived in.” The affidavit describes the home as unfurnished and dusty “as if no one had been there in a long time.”
When the water leak was traced to a bedroom closet, maintenance workers removed the closet’s molding and noticed the sheetrock had been precut. The workers removed the precut section and saw a locked safe and boxes “containing a large amount of U.S. currency.”
They also found a white garbage bag containing a large amount of cash in the condo’s kitchen.
The officer summoned other officers to the scene, including an officer with a drug-sniffing dog named Chloe, who alerted officers to the presence of a narcotics odor from inside the condo.
In the affidavit, officers said they spoke to several people who said “no one has been in the apartment in the past 10 years.”
