KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Federal prosecutors this week dismissed a case in which they were seeking to pursue the forfeiture of more than $165,000 seized in a May 2021 traffic stop in Kansas.
Dickinson County, Kansas, Sheriff's Deputy Kalen Robinson stopped Jamie Jordan, an employee of Denver-based company Empyreal Logistics LLC, on May 17, 2021, who was driving from Colorado to Kansas City, Missouri.
Jordan told the deputy her company transports cash from medical marijuana dispensaries in Missouri to Colorado, and she was on her way to Kansas City to pick up cash from the marijuana businesses.
Jordan was released by Robinson but she was stopped by him again the next day after the Drug Enforcement Administration surveilled Jordan "entering multiple state marijuana dispensaries in Kansas City, Missouri," according to the affidavit.
"Seized from the van was $165,620 in U.S. currency in five bags," the affidavit said. "Jordan confirmed to Robison that all of the currency was from multiple marijuana dispensaries in Kansas City, Missouri."
A drug-detection dog later alerted to the odor of marijuana coming from the seized money. The money is currently in the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service.
This week’s motion came on Tuesday and was accepted by a federal judge on Wednesday. Prosecutors did not explain why they decided to dismiss their case.
The court first took up the matter in October 2021.
Empyreal Logistics LLC had been asking for the complaint to be dismissed "with prejudice" and for the money seized and their attorney's fees to be paid for, according to court documents.
Medical marijuana was legalized in the state of Missouri in 2018 and in Colorado, the state the defendant was driving to, recreational marijuana was legalized in 2012. But in Kansas, medical and recreational marijuana are illegal, and it is illegal under federal law.
Even though the money was made legally in Missouri and was being driven to another state where marijuana is legal, under the federal Controlled Substances Act, the money can be seized because it was used to purchase a controlled substance, according to court documents.
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