LOXLEY, Ala. — A Mexican man, Victor Marquez, whose $20,000 was seized in a Loxley traffic stop last May has his money waiting for him, Baldwin County District Attorney Judy Newcomb says.

“I don’t know if he has picked it up already, but it was available,” she said in a telephone interview.

Last May, Loxley police stopped two men in a Chevrolet pickup along Interstate 10. Police say the truck was “swerving” on the road.

The officer making the stop, identified in press reports as Chris Crisler, says that his suspicions were piqued because the cab of the truck had a strong odor of air freshener, which he thought might be “masking” other substances.

The driver of the vehicle, Ambrosio Saul Ramirez-Ibarra, did not have a driver’s license, and Crisler’s police dog signaled that drugs had touched the money, a that the passenger, Marquez, had.

A search of the truck found no drugs. Both men were in this country legally.

Several hours later, the pair was released from Loxley without the money or the truck.

Ramirez-Ibarra was charged with driving without a license.

Marquez is reported to have said the money was his, earmarked for a new house in Mexico.

According to Loxley chief of Police John M. Cason, “The District Attorney has his money. We turn that over right away.”

Loxley police pursued a drug forfeiture case, something that apparently the District Attorney’s office decided not to prosecute.

“We reevaluated and chose not to pursue this,” said Newcomb, adding that it did seem as if there was enough evidence at first to pursue a forfeiture claim.

“It’s like a process,” said Newcomb, adding that the District Attorney’s office and local law enforcement continually evaluate and reevaluate their cases.