$1 Million Found Inside West El Paso Apartment

More than $1.1 million was found inside a West El Paso apartment that hasn’t been lived in for several years.

According to a forfeiture affidavit, the contraband money was found in boxes and bags. The bills were so moldy and damaged, the bank wouldn’t accept some of the cash. The seizure was surprising to some residents.

“I would have never expected it, never,” exclaimed one man who didn’t want to be identified.

According to court documents, maintenance workers found bundles of cash inside the walls of a unit at the Sierra De Oro complex on Escondido Drive.

In early February, crews said there was water flowing out the front door, so they had to go inside to shut it off but couldn’t get a hold of the person living there.

A courtesy officer, who is also an El Paso police officer, went inside with the maintenance crew and found it didn’t look like anyone lived there. Court documents state, “There was hardly any furniture inside the home and it was very dusty.”

When maintenance workers followed the water leak to a closet, they reportedly found a safe and a box filled with cash. That’s when police were called.

Officers reportedly came with a search warrant, court documents state the money inside the boxes found was packed in plastic bags and coated with talcum powder, a common practice used by traffickers. Detectives “recognized this packaging method as indicative of illegal activity,” the documents stated.

Three safes and eight boxes full of bundles of money were found throughout the home along with loose money in a garbage bag in the kitchen, according to officials.

According to the Central Appraisal District, the property has belonged to Jose Benitez Chavez since 1997.

Officials said the apartment could be a stash house because Benitez Chavez uses several aliases, a narcotics dog alerted officials to a narcotics smell, and there were no utilities at the apartment, but the property taxes and association dues were up to date.

Investigators said no one at the complex had seen anyone live in the unit in the past 10 years.

“You would never expect it out here. It’s a nice, wholesome neighborhood, I like it out here. You would never expect it out here,” said the man.

According to court documents, the money was either from or going to be used for a felony.

About $982,000 were deposited at a bank. About $179,000 in bills were damaged, moldy or mutilated and were sent to Washington, D.C., for reclamation.

Officials have not said if they have found Benitez Chavez. They said Benitez Chavez has been arrested by Border Patrol agents twice in the past for illegal re-entry.