United States of America v. $ 404,905.00 in U.S. Currency, Stephen Alexander

LOKEN, Circuit Judge.

Omaha police officer Anthony Ward stopped a truck and U-Haul trailer driven by Stephen Alexander for speeding on Interstate 80. Officer Ward’s K-9 dog, Fan-ta, alerted on the outside of the trailer, and a full search uncovered $404,905 in drug-tainted United States currency. The government commenced this civil forfeiture proceeding against the currency. Alexander timely filed a claim. Following a bench trial, the district court 1 concluded that the government established probable cause linking the currency to drug trafficking and declared it forfeited. See 21 U.S.C. §…