Take a look at this:
Now take a look at what was inside:
That's what the Miami-Dade Police Department found in the home of Luis Hernandez-Gonzalez, a Miami man who owns a store that sells equipment for indoor gardening.
Police are still counting the money but they know it's about $20 million, making it the largest cash seizure in Miami-Dade Police Department history.
According an arrest affidavit, police searched Hernandez-Gonzalez's home after confidential informants tied him to the drug trade. According to the affidavit, investigators wire-tapped Hernandez-Gonzalez's phone and heard him hand out advice on how to keep pot plants healthy.
During one conversation, an alleged client describes sad-looking plants that are not responding to extra oxygenation. Hernandez-Gonzalez asks for a picture and tells the person that they have to be patient. Giving a plant extra oxygen after weeks of neglect is like giving "a starving old man ... testosterone," Hernandez-Gonzalez says.
Police eventually contacted Hernandez-Gonzalez and he was cooperative telling them that he could draw up a list of clients who he believes grew marijuana indoors. They searched his shop and found bundles of money and police allege that Hernandez-Gonzalez voluntarily let them search his home.
Police dogs led them to more bundles of money. Police say they found pot seeds and steroids and a loaded Tec-9 with an extended clip.
Through the attic floor, they detected a hidden room:
The secret room was on the other side of this wall:
Detectives cut through and found 24 5-gallon buckets full of cash.
Hernandez-Gonzalez was arrested and charged with money laundering, cannabis trafficking and other charges. His sister was also charged.
Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.
