Three men from Texas ended up in the Lancaster County Jail after deputies found more than $140,000 in a vehicle during a traffic stop near I-80 and 56th Street. LSO Chief Deputy Ben Houchin says the Lincoln-Lancaster County Criminal Interdiction Unit stopped Nissan Altima around 2:00 p.m. Wednesday for changing lanes and unsafe passing.
“Three occupants were in the vehicle, they smelled marijuana and got consent from the driver, 22-year-old Jacob Wallace,” Houchin says. “They searched it and found three backpacks full of cash.” Houchin says the investigation revealed that the three men were involved in an ATM robbery in Omaha hours earlier.
Also in the car were two backseat passengers, 21-year-old Kendris Boston and 25-year-old Kaleb Tshibangu. Investigators determined one of the men had a felony warrant for theft from a Texas bank.
The trio were arrested for possession of stolen property and booked in the Lancaster County jail. On Friday, they were also arrested on warrants for the Omaha robbery. Houchin said they will be taken to Omaha at a future date.
Houchin believes all of the money came from the one robbery in Omaha. At the time of the traffic stop they were heading west on I-80. “There is a possibility they could have been coming to Lincoln, Houchin says. Thankfully, we don’t know, because we got them stopped.” The Criminal Interdiction Unit includes the Lancaster County Sheriff’s Office, Lincoln Police Department and Homeland Security.
