A federal judge ordered that Nebraska police must return more than $1,000,000 to a California stripper, ABC News reports.

Tara Mishra claims that she earned the money – her life savings – from 15 years of exotic dancing. But she nearly lost it all after a Nebraska state trooper pulled her friends over last year for speeding. Mishra’s friends, Rajesh and Marina Dheri, consented to a search of their car, which turned up plastic bags full of $10,000 bundles.

The trooper, assuming that the bags were filled with drug money, confiscated the cash and took the Dheris into custody. However, as Judge Joseph Baitallon noted last week, police found no drug activity in the vehicle, and a K-9 unit detected only trace amounts of narcotics on the bills.

The Dheris claim they were taking the money to New Jersey, their home state, where Mishra planned to use it to open a club.

Baitallon ruled that Mishra’s money must be restituted to the tune of $1,074,000: the amount she temporarily lost plus interest.