U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers arrested a Brownsville man accused of crossing close to $1 million from the United States into Mexico.
According to a federal criminal complaint, Jose Carmen Presas-Cano Jr. had $931,739 hidden inside his vehicle as he tried to cross at the B&M International Bridge in Brownsville on Jan. 10.
Presas-Cano Jr., born in 2000, is charged with knowingly concealing more than $10,000 to transfer out of the United States. He appeared Wednesday before U.S. Magistrate Judge Ignancio Torteya III who ordered he be held without bond. His next court appearance is scheduled for Jan. 17.
The federal criminal complaint states that as Presas-Cano tried to cross into Mexico he told CBP officers that he did not have “firearms, ammunition, and monetary instruments in excess of $10,000,” on him.
His vehicle was selected for an outbound examination by officers and during the search they found several vacuum sealed bundles of U.S. currency totaling $931,739 that were “hidden in the spare tire well of the trunk as well as behind the inner lining of the truck walls,” the federal criminal complaint read.
According to federal law, anyone crossing $10,000 or more at an international crossing must report the money to CPB.
Editor’s note: This story’s headline was updated for clarity.
