Cops Found $661,750 Cash in Burning Car Left on I-55: Complaint

The cops found $661,750 cash and six counterfeit $20s in a burning car on Interstate 55, according to a complaint for forfeiture filed in Will County court.

State police and agents with the Metropolitan Area Narcotics Squad were called out to I-55 in Bolingbrook on Dec. 8 after firefighters noticed numerous bills — some of them burnt — in a gray Nissan Altima and scattered around it in a ditch, the complaint said.

The Altima reportedly bore a Texas “one-trip” permit and was on fire.

The cops gathered up all the loose money and were told by Bolingbrook firefighters “that a large amount of burnt currency was discovered in the engine compartment, and on the front passenger floorboard of the vehicle,” the complaint said.

An “unidentified witness” supposedly told the cops that he spotted “the male driver of the Nissan Altima pushing the vehicle while it was on fire.”

“The witness further advised that the driver was observed carrying two duffel bags, and was picked up by a dark SUV, which then fled the area, abandoning the burning vehicle,” the complaint said

Of the recovered cash, $55,000 of it was reportedly burnt or mutilated.

Some of the cash was in a “half burnt military duffle bag,” and so was a baggage ticket from Midway airport for someone named Rodolfo Saenz, the complaint said.

A month or so later, the state police contacted Saenz and he came showed up at the District 5 building for an interview.

“Saenz advised that he purchases cars at the Manheim Arena Auto Auction in Bolingbrook, Illinois, almost every week and then sells them to exporters in El Paso, Texas, for transport to Mexico,” the complaint said.

Saenz reportedly recalled meeting a car seller and agreeing to buy a 2002 Altima. He and the seller chose to close the deal outside Manheim to avoid the auction taxes, according to the complaint.

Saenz was unable to provide any paperwork for the car, the complaint said, but did remember asking a longtime acquaintance named Jorge Garcia to tow the Altima to El Paso for him. Garcia never delivered the Altima, Saenz reportedly explained.

Saenz also denied any knowledge of anyone transporting hundreds of thousands of dollars in the Altima, the complaint said, and signed away his claim to the cash.

The Will County State’s Attorney’s office has a May court date for the government’s case to keep the money.