BENEFACTOR DELIVERS FOOD TO HOMELESS IN MINI-VAN CONTAINING $1/2 MILLION WORTH OF DOPE

This guy is lucky he hasn’t been whacked by the drug dealers looking for their missing dope.

MAN BUYS MINI-VAN … AND FINDS $500,000 OF COCAINE IN THE DOOR PANELS
By Beth Stebner

Mail Online
November 14, 2011

A California man was stunned to see what a previous owner of his minivan apparently left behind: $500,000 worth of cocaine jammed in the door panels.

San Jose psychologist Charles Preston bought the 2008 Town and Country in May 2010 for a mere $14,000 from Thrifty Car Sales in Santa Clara.

Mr Preston said he noticed the driver's side window wouldn't go down all the way, but he figured he would live with it because the minivan had a good air conditioning system.

He discovered the giant stash of cocaine 15 months later when he brought the car to a mechanic to get the brakes checked.

Police arrived to the shop immediately and found 14 packages of cocaine hidden in the doors. After impounding the car, they found five more packages behind the wheels.

Mr Preston said he initially had no idea what the white 'snow' hidden in the frame was, though those who heard the news were quick to dole out advice. ‘People make jokes – oh, you should have sold it,’ Mr Preston told the San Jose Mercury News.

‘But honestly, I’ve never been so scared in my life, even when I was mugged in New York.’

Mr Preston says he’s worried that a drug cartel may seek out their rightful stash.

Sgt. Jason Dwyer, a police spokesman, agrees. ‘It’s absolutely dangerous,’ he says.

‘If somebody is motivated to track down that van and doesn’t want any witnesses, then some physical harm could come to the owner. That’s a lot of dope to be misplaced.’

Mr Preston had never bought a used vehicle before, and said he was unaware he could take it into the dealer for a repair.

He used the van to tote and distribute food that he bought with his salary, which he then gave to the homeless.

Thrifty Car Sales owner Ron Battistella says he's willing to replace the van with a drug-free ride, for the full value Mr Preston paid.

Mr Preston is keeping a positive attitude about the strange ordeal, saying this experience could help him out in social circumstances.

‘When someone says, “Tell me about yourself,” I’ll finally have something interesting to talk about.’