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Published August 18, 2006


GREENE COUNTY »

Smuggling attempt nets 2-year sentence

A Mexican citizen was sentenced in federal court Thursday for attempting to smuggle more than $500,000 in cash across the border.
Gilberto Bolanos-Cazarez, 32, of Tijuana, Mexico, was sentenced to two years in federal prison without parole, according to a press release issued by Bradley J. Schlozman, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Missouri.

The case is the first of its kind to be prosecuted in the district, Schlozman said.

"Drug-trafficking is a two-way street," he said.

"Not only are illegal drugs being smuggled into the United States and being sold in this community, but the cash profits from the sale of drugs is also being smuggled back to the source."

A Missouri Highway Patrol officer stopped Bolanos-Cazarez for a traffic violation Jan. 21 on Interstate 44 in Greene County.

The trooper found some of the concealed cash during a search of the vehicle.

Bolanos-Cazarez pleaded guilty May 18. The release said he admitted to concealing $500,280 in a 1993 Jeep Cherokee and attempting to transport the cash from Chicago to Mexico, with the intent of evading federal reporting requirements.

Federal law requires anyone who transports more than $10,000 across the border to file a report with the government.

The USA Patriot Act prohibits concealing money with the intent of evading that reporting requirement.