Nearly $100K seized after Ellis County stop

WICHITA (AP) — Federal prosecutors have filed four cases seeking to keep more than $358,000 in suspected drug money recovered by Kansas officers in separate traffic stops on Interstate 70 in August and September.

The U.S. Attorney’s office filed the four cases involving traffic stops in Ellis, Ellsworth, Shawnee and Wabaunsee counties.

In the most recent case filed Wednesday, a Kansas Highway Patrol trooper reportedly found $98,600 during a stop in Ellis County. The money was wrapped in rubber bands inside vacuum-sealed plastic bags hidden in a quarter panel.

Federal prosecutors filed four similar cases in June in Shawnee, Wabaunsee, Ellsworth and Chase counties.

The eight cases filed since June total about $884,000 in suspected drug money seized by law enforcement officers on interstate highways in Kansas.