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That's a lot of $1 bills.

The Nebraska State Patrol was wrong to seize more than $1 million in cash apparently belonging to a pregnant ex-stripper who was looking to start a nightclub in New Jersey, a U.S. District judge has ruled.

Judge Joseph F. Bataillon ordered that all $1,074,900 be returned to Tara Mishra, saying her story that she saved up the money while stripping from the age of 18 was credible — and that the government never proved the money had any connection to a drug transaction.

"'Lots of money' is not a sufficient basis in and of itself generally for forfeiture," the judge wrote.



Cop stops Montville couple driving $1 million cross-country

In March of last year, Trooper Ryan Hayes pulled over a rental car being driven by Rajesh and Marina Dheri of Montville, while they were going an estimated 90 miles per hour on Route 80, according to court's findings of fact. The trooper found their story about traveling by plane for a dinner with friends in Los Angeles suspicious, and got their permission to search the car, according to the court.

Hayes opened the back hatch and found more than $1 million in cash — along with dryer sheets, rubber bands, hair tie scrunchies and clear baggies in duffel bags and a back pack, according to the court.

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At first, the Dheris said they were transporting the money for friends — Mishra and her husband — from California to New Jersey for a business deal involving a nightclub, according to the court. But they later said the money was theirs but borrowed — and eventually signed a "Voluntary Disclaimer of Interest and Ownership," letting police seize the money.

A drug-sniffing dog picked up on the money at police headquarters — but though the Dheris were handcuffed and taken to police headquarters, they were told they weren't under arrest, and were never indicted, according to the court.

Stripper: It's not their money to give up

Mishra argued in court the money was hers, and not the Dheris' to disclaim. She also argued the government never proved the money had anything to do with drug transactions.

Last year, she reportedly told the court she first began dancing at the age of 18, but was then 33 and expecting her first child — so she gave up dancing, and hoped to open a club. Her customers always paid her in cash, which she saved in safe deposit boxes and declared on her tax forms, the court's finding of fact recounts her testifying.

Mishra testified she planned to use the money for a 50/50 partnership in a nightclub — she and her husband would own 50 percent, and the Dheris along with other partners would own the other 50 percent, according to the court.

But when she got the money from her safe deposit boxes, a lot of it "smelled like an ash tray," so she put dryer sheets in baggies with the cash, the court recounted her testifying.

She said she asked the Dheris to transport the money to New Jersey because she didn't want to drive across the country alone and risk getting robbed, according to the court.

But she also acknowledged that in 2003, she was convicted of a felony for transporting controlled substances, and served 18 months in state prison, according to the court.

Mishra's husband testified that a few weeks before the Dheris were stopped, he and his wife traveled to New Jersey and spent five days negotiating the purchase of a night club, according to the court. That deal fell through — but the couple ultimately agreed to buy part of the 46 Lounge in Totowa, he reportedly testified.



Where's the proof? Where's the crime?

The judge ultimately sided with Mishra, saying the government never gave enough proof of any drug connection.

"The government argues that the Dheris are coconspirators ... The court asks the question, 'coconspirators of what?'" Bataillon wrote, addressing an argument about whether the Dheris' own statements were hearsay. "There is no allegation against them of conspiring to do anything. It is reasonable to presume the government filed no criminal charges against the Dheris because it did not have probable cause to indict them."

And he said the K9 search didn't prove anything — citing a dissenting opinion by Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens in another forfiteure case, Bennis v. Michigan: "It has been estimated that nearly every United States bill in circulation—some $230 billion worth—carries trace amounts of cocaine, so great is the drug trade’s appetite for cash."

Because police had the $1 million in cash converted to a cashier's check, Mishra never got a chance to independently test the bills, Bataillon noted. And there's no information about other activity officers who handled the cash were involved in that day, or how reliable the dog is, the judge said.

And he said although the Dheris changed their story, their first one was consistent with Mishra's — and they only changed it after being handcuffed for a long time and taken to police headquarters. Once they disclaimed interest in the cash, they were allowed to leave, and given back several thousand dollars taken from Rajesh Dheri's pants pocket, the judge said.

"Further, there is just an overall lack of evidence to support the government’s burden in this regard," Bataillon wrote. "There is no nexus between the currency and any illegal activity."