FORT SMITH -- A federal court judge has ordered that $204,885 seized last year in a Crawford County traffic stop be forfeited to the government.

U.S. District Judge P.K. Holmes III issued the default judgment Tuesday after Collins Talley IV of California failed to respond to notices from the government that it intended to confiscate the cash on suspicion that it was linked to illegal drugs.

According to the U.S. attorney's office in Fort Smith, the forfeited money goes into a federal forfeiture fund and is distributed among law enforcement agencies.

An affidavit by Drug Enforcement Administration Task Force officer Paul Smith filed with the government's complaint for forfeiture said an Arkansas State Police trooper found the cash in four 4-gallon paint buckets and a suitcase in the car driven by Talley. Bar codes on the paint buckets showed they were purchased at a Home Depot store in Orlando, Fla., the affidavit said.

When the state police trooper, Cpl. Olen Craig, questioned Talley about the large amount of cash, according to the affidavit, he responded the money belonged to him and he always traveled with it.

The affidavit said a forensic scan of the money and contents of the car showed positive results for cocaine.

Craig stopped the vehicle Talley was driving for an unspecified traffic violation 3 miles from the Oklahoma state line in Crawford County on the night of April 29, 2014.

According to the affidavit, Talley told Craig that he lived in Cabazon, Calif., and had flown to Florida with a woman he identified as his girlfriend. The girlfriend rented him the vehicle he was driving, Talley told Craig.

Talley was cited for driving on a suspended license and failure to obey a traffic control device. He pleaded no contest to the suspended-license ticket in Crawford County District Court on Dec. 1 and was fined $295 plus court costs.

NW News on 03/13/2015