I-80 Bust Sends Indiana Man to Prison

United States Attorney Joe Kelly announced that Robert Eugene Huff, 69, formerly of Indianapolis, Indiana, was sentenced today in Lincoln, Nebraska, to 1 year in prison by Chief United States District Judge John M. Gerrard, for interstate transportation in aid of racketeering.  In addition to his prison sentence, Huff will be required to serve 2 years on supervised release.  Huff also forfeited $149,746.00 in cash and a 2016 Ford F-350 truck.

In December, 2017, the Lancaster County Sheriff’s Department stopped Huff’s pickup for following too closely as it was travelling through Lancaster County on Interstate 80. Huff was the driver and lone occupant of the vehicle.  Huff stated that he had come from Brown County, Indiana, and was going back to his home in Chico, California.  During that encounter a K9 officer was called to the scene of the stop.  The K9 indicated to the odor of a controlled substance coming from the vehicle and the vehicle was searched.

Upon opening the tailgate and the topper, the deputies saw a large tote, locked and cable-tied to the bed of the pickup.  The K9 officer was able to put his hand inside the top of it and pulled out vacuumed-sealed packages of money.  There was also a tool chest, which held several bundles of money with sticky notes on them with people’s name and amounts on the notes.  The deputies also found a backpack which held a $10,000.00 bundle of one hundred dollar bills, a $3,000.00 bundle of ten-dollar bills and several hundreds of dollars in one-dollar bills.

One of the officers asked Huff about the lock on the tote and Huff stated that he did not have a key for the bag, as it belonged to his son.  Deputies later found the key among Huff’s belongings.  Once the bags of money were opened, officers stated the currency smelled like raw marijuana.  The currency was later tested and tested positive for cannabis.   In all, $149,746.00 was recovered from the vehicle. 

The deputies also found notes/paperwork/ledgers detailing Huff’s interstate travel across the country with mileage consistent with a trip from Chico, California, to an area south of Indianapolis, then back home to California.  These notes provided information indicative of drug distribution activity.  The paperwork indicated Huff had made two trips per month from March, 2016, to the date of the traffic stop.  Based on an estimated $2,000 per pound value for the purchase of marijuana in California, the money seized by the Officers would convert to approximately 74.8 pounds of marijuana.

This case was investigated by Lancaster County Sheriff’s Department.