One guy said he flew from San Francisco to Pittsburgh because he was having an affair, although he said he told his wife he was in town to buy a Range Rover. That $43,000 in his luggage? He called it “mattress money.”
His buddy said he came to Pittsburgh to buy a 1972 Lincoln and that he made his money selling real estate and classic cars “all over.” That’s why he had that $87,875 in his bag.
Federal agents had an alternative explanation: These two are drug dealers.
Prosecutors this week moved to claim the combined $130,000 seized at Pittsburgh International Airport back in February as drug money to be turned over to the United States through civil forfeiture.
The two suspects are Darrin Packnit of Turlock, California, and Lucas Woolman of Modesto, California. They walked through TSA screening on Feb. 8 with the bulk cash. Packnit declared that he was carrying $68,000, and Woolman said he had $35,000.
Law officers questioned both. They gave some squirrelly answers, according to federal forfeiture complaints.
Packnit said he and Woolman flew from San Francisco and that he was here to buy classic cars. Specifically, he was looking for a ’72 Lincoln with “suicide doors.” He said they stayed at an airport hotel and that Packnit checked out the car in the parking lot. He said he decided not to buy it because the “mileage wasn’t right.” Officers asked him what color the car was. He paused, said gray, then reconsidered and said “grayish.”
Pressed further, he couldn’t identify the seller, whom he said he met in Las Vegas. He said the seller only used a flip phone so couldn’t text. He said he didn’t have the seller’s contact info in his phone because he deletes his call log every day.
He was also unclear about how much money he actually had with him. He told TSA he had $68,000. But he told law officers he had $60,000. But then he changed the amount to $65,000. He said he made his money selling real estate and mentioned that he recently bought some in Arizona.
A money count showed all of his numbers were off. The true amount was $87,875, bundled in various denominations and secured with rubber bands. The bundles also had Post-it notes on them with various handwritten names.
A drug dog later alerted to the residue of narcotics on the cash.
A search of Packnit’s history turned up a federal conviction out of San Diego in 1999 for possession of marijuana with intent to distribute. In 2019, a law enforcement theft task force searched his house because he hadn’t returned a generator he’d rented. DEA agents found a drug lab in a barn on the property along with 2,325 kilos of marijuana and 75 liters of hash oil, prosecutors said.
Based on all of that, Assistant U.S. Attorney Jill Locnikar said the airport money should be turned over to the U.S. as drug proceeds.
Woolman’s story also didn’t add up, prosecutors said.
He said he and Packnit left San Francisco on Feb. 7 and that his wife made their reservations. He said he told his wife he was going to Pittsburgh to buy a Range Rover. But he said he lied to her because he was really coming to Pittsburgh to have an affair. He said he took the cash to fool his wife. He told TSA he had $35,000 but a count turned up $43,000, which he said was “mattress money.”
Woolman said he was living off past wages from various jobs: bartender, Exxon salesman, hand-sanitizer salesman.
His cash was also bundled and secured with rubber bands and the drug dog alerted on it.
Neither man has been charged with a crime.
Torsten covers the courts for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, but he's currently on strike. Reach him at jtorsteno@gmail.com.
